Growing wealth widens distance between lawmakers and constituents

[kpete]

This discussion thread was locked as off-topic by maddezmom (a host of the Latest Breaking News forum).

Growing wealth widens distance between lawmakers and constituents

But the financial gap between Americans and their representatives in Congress has widened considerably since then, according to an analysis of financial disclosures by The Washington Post.

Between 1984 and 2009, the median net worth of a member of the House rose by more than 2 1 / 2 times, according to the analysis of financial disclosures, from $280,000 to $725,000 in inflation-adjusted 2009 dollars, excluding home ­equity.

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.

......................

The growing disparity between the representatives and the represented means that there is a greater distance between the economic experience of Americans and those of lawmakers.




more:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/growing-wealth-widens-distance-between-lawmakers-and-constituents/2011/12/05/gIQAR7D6IP_story.html

[Burge]

1. Interesting that the net worth of the Democrats has steadily increased while

the net worth of the Republicans has declined.

What's up with that?

[W T F]

2. Nice spin, but you fail to note that while the increase among the democrats is minimal.....

Republicans still hog the wealth

[Ruby the Liberal]

3. But has proportionally declined since 2004, comparatively...

Interesting you note that.

It isn't unlike the argument that rich people pay more $ volume in taxes while ignoring the % issue.

[maddezmom]

4. Locking

Analysis not Latest Breaking News.