The "FAT CATS" of Congress.

Recently a list was released that contained who's who on the congressional millionaire list.  Congress is loaded *** there is no escaping it. Despite the pathetically poor approval ratings of Congress these days, there is apparently one big advantage to being elected to the nation’s legislative body.

 With Americans increasingly becoming concerned about the state of income inequality in their country, a new report is showing that the disparity between the average American’s wealth and that of their Congressional representative is, to put it mildly, stark, with the Center for Responsive Politics reporting that nearly half of Congress is worth more than $1 million, and their total wealth increased 11% since 2009. We have fat cats , personal financial disclosure data from 2012 of the 534 current members of Congress and found that, for the first time, more than half had an average net worth of $1 million or more: 268 to be exact, up from 257 the year earlier. The median for congressional Democrats was $1.04 million and, for Republicans, $1 million even. Having  always sort of leaned more towards a conservative view when it comes to politics; however, over the last year or two I have really started to see a shift from what was a proud responsible hard working type of people, to a whiny silver spoon fed entitled bunch of dense idiots who care more about their ego than the people they serve. Republicans ruined their party's reputation by being intolerant to any sort of change, and ignorant to reality. they caused the gov shut down, and will continue to ruin how this country is governed as long as they have the majority. they care more about getting what they want, than whats best for our country, and are not ashamed of it. they are intolerant to change, or compromise. they continually and purposely delay laws from being passed, and doing their job. I personally hate the idea of a bunch of rich people making decisions that mainly effect the ( Poor )  middle class. With nearly 1/2 of Congress being millionaires what possible chance is there to reform the income tax code? Also, can you confirm whether or not Congress got a $3000 COLA this year. I always suspected that our Congress\'s insistence for a tax cut for the wealthy was really personal greed. you have confirmed my suspicions. Greed rules the Congress! Chris Hayes writes a lot about the concept of distance between elites and the rest of us. "A wide distance between the governors and the governed will produce a state that is predatory toward its own citizens, indifferent to their desires, and subject to the inbred whims and compulsions of its ruling class... [T]hose members of the elite who occupy the high offices of our pillar institutions and organizations are already psychologically disposed to close themselves off to the perspectives of others... Time and again, in radically different contexts, we saw those in charge be so blind to the interests of those outside their small circle that they pursued a course of action that would ultimately bring ruin and disgrace."

NOTES AND COMMENTS:

*** The research shows many of them are rich. Very rich. The median estimated net worth of Congress is $966,000, according to the center. By contrast, the median net worth of the typical American household is slightly more than $66,000. Ten members had a net worth greater than $100 million on one or both sites.

The multimillionaires include:
-- House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, who has at least $3 million in stocks and mutual funds.
-- U.S. Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., whose road to riches began in the 1970s as a writer on "Saturday Night Live." He has a listed net worth of about $8 million.
-- Darrell Issa, R-Calif., the former CEO of a company that created the Viper anti-theft system for vehicles, who has a net worth of nearly $500 million.
-- Outgoing U.S. senator and newly-appointed Secretary of State John Kerry, a Democrat from Massachusetts, whose wife is an heiress of the Heinz ketchup fortune. He has an estimated net worth of about $200 million.
-- House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California, whose family real estate holdings are worth an estimated $100 million.
-- Republican Tim Scott of South Carolina, who was appointed to the Senate in January and owns about $3 million worth of real estate.