A congress of millionaires

[Mass]

The numbers for congress are out for this year and they really look bad, The median numbers for Congress is just above $1,000,000 in assets and it is not significantly different from Democrats and Republicans.

Democrats and Republicans in Congress were about equally wealthy, with Democrats boasting a median net worth of $1.04 million, compared to $1 million for congressional Republicans. The averages in both cases were up compared with the previous year, when the numbers were $990,000 and $907,000, the analysis showed.

The rise in wealth takes place at the same time that both parties are trying to position themselves as more sympathetic to the jump in inequity in the United States; the rich have gotten much richer while the median family income has been relatively flat or has declined, depending on different statistical measurements.

I am not expecting congresspeople to be poor, as campaigning in these races takes money and that quite often, political parties and congressional committees recruit people who are rich to run, but the gap is getting worse and worse. You' ve got to wonder how it contributes to the way not only Republicans, but also Democrats consider what to do and how to deal with issues like poverty and unemployment.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/10/us/politics/more-than-half-the-members-of-congress-are-millionaires-analysis-finds.html