47% of Congress Members Millionaires — a Status Shared by Only 1% of Americans

And they get to do insider trading….except Nanny Pelosi of course.

I have a good friend who is hard right, I am middle of the road left, the ONLY thing that he and I agree 100% on is that these people have no clue how the common man lives. Our lawmakers are completely detached from the rest of us and they like it that way. It was NOT supposed to be like this… our representatives were supposed to be our peers and those we admired who had good skills they could use for the betterment of society as a whole. We don’t respect these people, we certainly don’t trust them. This is a friends and family plan gone very wrong.

Campaign finance reform.

Fire all incumbents!! We desperately need a fresh start with our elected officials being reminded that they work for us. As upset as this article is, I am not the least bit surprised. I demand better.

And I a retired veteran of the U.S. Navy and thousands of other veterans are so outrage with our political leaders. Every year the vote themselves a healthy raise and do not do so for our active duty or retired veterans. Our leaders retain full pay and benefits upon completion of just one term while the veteran at minimum gets 50 percent of base pay and has to pay into spousal survival benefits and health care. Our leaders claim that our armed forces are strictly voluntary and we know what we are getting into, yet we support and defend our Country and Allies while most of them have never even served their country, And now they want to cut a retired or disabled veterans pay because it is costing to much???? You tell me where this is fair to the Brave who support, defend and give themselves freely in order to maintain the Freedom and Liberty our Forefathers fought for?

I think all of our members of congress should be required to use the money they are paid (notice that I didn’t us the word “earn”) while being in office to support themselves. Common people are required to use the money we earn to feed our families, pay for our living expenses plus any other expenses that we incur. I think we need a reform ! No more taxpayer money for apartments / homes, food, travel, etc. Politicians are paid to be in office and that should be the income they use for ALL of their expenses. Then maybe they’ll see how the common person lives and how hard it is to make ends meet !

The people are justified in their anger at the Congress. All of them are in the pockets of the rich and well connected while the people suffer cuts and stagnant wages. The politicians do not know the plight of the common man and may never understand it. Just by voting them out won’t fix the problem. The Congress and the Senate have to totally change and laws need to be passed to stop money from going into their pockets from the lobbyists. REFORM CONGRESS NOW!

If Nanny Pelosi was Martha Stewart she’d be in jail.

Ed….no one wants to keep anyone from being wealthy…but why should only the middle class be asked to make sacrifices and give back perks they worked so hard to get. As the old saying goes the rich get richer…o.k….but why can’t they be asked to give back 1% of anything above one million when the cops, firemen and teachers who make about $45.00 to $55,00 are asked to give back and make more sacrifices for the sake of budget cuts. We pay their healthcare….to ask us to do this is unfair and they certainly can pay their own…I am talking about members of congress and the senate. We all should be asked to make sacrifices not only the middle class and the poor.

Talmag – I consider it a penalty for being wealthy. Imagine someone you never met going through your wallet and telling you that you need to give more money away so things will be “fair”. Also, you don’t pay for their healthcare – they get to choose from the same plans offered to other federal employees (like me). I admit I get a sweet deal but I’m still paying almost $200 every two weeks for something I rarely use. Maybe Congressman Bob doesn’t feel that pinch as much as I do but he’s not getting a free ride.

talmag…there’s danger in deciding what’s “fair”. The top 10% pay nearly 70% of all personal taxes paid in this country. Obviously, that is not fair especially when we consider that something like 50% pay no personal, federal income taxes. Our economic system as well as our system of laws guarantee EVERYONE an equal opportunity NOT an equal outcome. The difference in work ethic, plain old intelligence, sometimes good luck, etc., account for the disparities. Not everyone who has “made it” in the USA (or anywhere else in the world) was born with a silver spoon in his/her mouth. Education is guaranteed to ALL citizens (even illegals) through the 12th grade. Beyond that, that’s a matter of choice. Where higher education is concerned, scholarships, affirmative action, etc., basically guarantee that ANYONE willing to apply him/herself can “make it” in the USA.

Is there a correlation between net worth and time in government? Is it any wonder why people spend millions to get a job that pays much less!

Pass the Congressional Reform Act of 2011 – – – – – – – – – – – – – — – – – – – – – – – – – –
1. No Tenure / No Pension. – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – -
A Congressman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when they are out of office. – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
2. Congress (past, present & future) participates in Social Security. – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to the Social Security system immediately. All future funds flow into the Social Security system, and Congress participates with the American people. It may not be used for any other purpose. – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
3. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all Americans do. – – – – – – – –
4. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise. Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%. – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – -
5. Congress loses their current health care system and participates in the same health care system as the American people. – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – -
6. Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American people. – – – – – – -
7. All contracts with past and present Congressmen are void effective 1/1/12. – – – – – – – – –
The American people did not make this contract with Congressmen. Congressmen made all these contracts for themselves. Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, so ours should serve their term(s), then go home and back to work.

And yet people will still re-elect Pelosi and the other crooks in congress. We need to send a clear message in the upcoming elections. Vote ALL of the incumbents out of office. Let’s start fresh. We must stand up and tell congress and the President that the current partisan crap will no longer be tolerated. If you think these people are there to do what’s best for America you are wrong. They are doing what is best for their respective parties. There should also be term limits!

Only 47% are millionaires? We need to kick the rest of them out. We know they’re all stealing but if they’re not even smart enough to steal a measly million bucks they aren’t smart enough to be in office.

And the poor keep on believing the dems that they are for the poor. You really think these millionaire DEMs are goint to Tax themselves more?? You think there will not be loop holes for them to use. When are the left and poor going to wake up? I understand most of the left but the poor keep falling for the Dems saying the Reps are rich. Need to look at what Peoplsi, Reid, Kerry McKaskill, waters, rangal all own.

I thoroughly agree with WORDY, enforcing such would guarentee that our elected state rep would only run for office to represent the people over that of running for a lifetime of benefits.

These are the entitlements that THE PEOPLE WANT TO BYE BYE!
They get the uncharted privilege of insider trading, free rent, free food, planes trains and autos–they get to travel, dine and wine all on the taxpayers fees—-yet they are exempt from paying into such. Added onto this the current state represented legislators do not care as long as they get their way, their 4-5 star meals and continue to Hold Up what is good for the People until they do get their way—-what a sad set of Congress now reigns in Washington.

I wonder if all of their bennies and entitlements were sudenly pulled away from them, isuch as they each had to pay for their meals, cars, and flights out of their own pocket, how many of these professionals would leave congress at the end of the term——I’ll bet you that they would go running far far away from the representation of the people. In this respect we could get rid of the carry on’s free ride to accomplish nothing and possibly get some real professionals who want to actually help this country in exchange!
Our current folks in Congree are ineffectively dysfunctional—and as a result should loose all privileges and bennies as a result of their inadequacy to lead and represent the people of this once great nation!

HOW about UNITED FOR ALL, not just the handful in tax payer paid suits!

Jim Rod, you can’t lump people together like that. There are good and bad millionaires and probably a lot of middle-of-the-road ones. I remember that there were quite a few millionaires that objected to the tax breaks for the wealthy.
As for the Democrats, as long as I’ve been following politics these last 30 years, they have more consistently stuck up for the poor and very importantly, the middle class.

It is fairly obvious that the Republicans, because they almost all tend to vote in lock-step lately, oppose any increase in taxes for the wealthy, want to cut the pensions for federal and state workers,cut programs that help the working poor, mess with workers rights to bargain for hours, working conditions, health and safety, etc,, want to cut Social Security, Medicare, our consumer protection Affordable Care Act and deregulate us into a very unsafe world. Our choice in 2012 is the Republicans who want all these terrible policies and the Dems who won’t do any of those harmful things but will work on increasing jobs if they get the majority which is the key to many of our economic and debt problems.
I’ll vote Democrat again. They might not do everything I want but they won’t create a mess like the 8 years of Bush policies did.

It IS a good idea to RID our Government of these ‘Lifetime” politicians. However, we must be extremely cautious when we elect OTHERS to take their seats because we may well end up with more IDIOTS such as we now have from the Tea Party that are HARMING our Nation with their LACK of knowledge which almost completely reuined us with their wrongful stance on increasing the debt limit. We DO need NEW blood but we need some BRAINS behind it!!!

this is a clear indicator why nothing gets done to help those less than rich U.S. citizens. We have a bunch of self-serving individuals in DC who have no interested in anything other than their own. Nothing will ever change until we voters make it change…it’s our only voice. Fire them all…if we don’t like what they do fire them again. Maybe a few years of making it known we aren’t sheep will change things. But leaving this group in there nothing will change except the size of their incomes.

So we all have great ideas but how do we actually change this status quo in Washington????

“their salaries paid in part by the American taxpayers.” Who else is paying their salary? The Cubans? Their Salaries are 100% paid by American taxes. Anything else they get is not their salary.

What are the statistics for wealth when they enter office? What is the % of growth in wealth per years in office? Where is the wealth held? Land? Stocks? Real Estate? How was it acquired?
Shouldn’t congress need to adhere to the same rules and regs as the rest of the country?
Posted by: Gary | November 17, 2011, 12:01 pm.

All excellent and valid questions. And NONE of them addressed by this lamely written article………………