{"id":5248,"date":"2011-12-27T06:16:00","date_gmt":"2011-12-27T11:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/?p=5248"},"modified":"2011-12-27T11:43:13","modified_gmt":"2011-12-27T16:43:13","slug":"morning-read-a-middle-class-nation-led-increasingly-by-millionaires","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/2011\/12\/27\/morning-read-a-middle-class-nation-led-increasingly-by-millionaires\/","title":{"rendered":"Morning Read: A middle class nation led increasingly by millionaires"},"content":{"rendered":"

CORRECTION:\u00a0 I incorrectly cited numbers describing Democrats as seven of the ten wealthiest lawmakers in Congress.\u00a0 They are, in fact, seven of the ten wealthiest Senators, with John Kerry wealthiest there at roughly a quarter billion dollars in assets.<\/p>\n

But in the House, Republicans rank in the top tier, with Republican congressman Darrel Issa of California worth nearly $450 million and congressman Michael McCaul of Texas worth roughly $380 million.<\/p>\n

ORIGINAL POST<\/p>\n

The Washington Post and the Center for Responsive Politics<\/a> have issued a fascinating report that examines the fact that our elected politicians — in the House and Senate — don’t look much like the rest of us when it comes to their pocketbooks.<\/p>\n

It turns out the people who we hope will reflect our ideals, our values, and our needs often live in a secure and comfortable financial world that the vast majority of American will never achieve.<\/p>\n

And the gap is widening.<\/p>\n

Between 1984 and 2009, the median net worth of a member of the House more than doubled, according to the analysis of\u00a0financial disclosures, from $280,000 to\u00a0$725,000 in inflation-adjusted 2009 dollars, excluding home \u00adequity.<\/p>\n

Over the same period, the wealth of an American family has declined slightly, with the comparable median figure sliding from $20,600 to $20,500, according to the Panel Study of Income Dynamics from the University of Michigan.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Here in the North Country, two of our congressmen are millionaires, with Republican Richard Hanna (NY-24) worth more than $12.8 million and Democrat Bill Owens (D-23) worth more than $3.3 million.<\/p>\n

Both were businessmen before taking office.<\/p>\n

By contrast, freshman Republican Chris Gibson (R-20), a former Army officer who lives now in Kinderhook has a net worth of only $175,000, according to the report.<\/p>\n

The report includes some surprises, including the fact that seven of the ten richest lawmakers in the US Senate are Democrats, topped by Sen. John Kerry who boasts more than $250 million in assets.<\/p>\n

On that scale, however, New York Senators Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand’s both have a net worth that is relatively down-to-earth, each clocking in at under $1 million.<\/p>\n

What do you think?\u00a0 Is it a good thing for a nation that is mostly middle- and working-class to be led by (mostly) wealthy lawmakers?\u00a0 Is this state of affairs inevitable?\u00a0 Your comments welcome.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CORRECTION:\u00a0 I incorrectly cited numbers describing Democrats as seven of the ten wealthiest lawmakers in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[6548,10,20],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5248"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5248"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5248\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5249,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5248\/revisions\/5249"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5248"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}