Washington's Hunger Games, Part 3: Getting Rich In Congress Despite The Great Recession

For the past two posts we have been reviewing the remarkable parallels between present day Washington and the plot line from the “Hunger Games” book and movie. In the “Hunger Games” there is a very, very small, elitist set of people in the seat of power, far away from the common folks, both in geography and life style and options.

The elitists have manipulated their government so that vast amounts of taxpayer wealth flows to this seat of power to the detriment of the rest of the country. Those in the seat of power enjoy self enrichment, status, pomposity, and gluttony, in its many forms, all on the backs and hard efforts of the rest of the citizens out in the country and hinterlands.

Over the past two days we have seen how politicians selfishly spend a lot of money on themselves using taxpayer wealth while our national debt gets larger and larger, how businesses and politicians have come together in an unholy union of using taxpayer money to trade political favors for political donations, and other concentrations of wealth and power within the D.C. beltway to the detriment of citizens.

Today we discuss this “Hunger Games” analogy using the details from an October 6, 2012 Washington Post article, “Capitol Assets: Congress’s wealthiest mostly shielded from effects of deep recession.” While just about every American and American household took a financial and wealth hit as a result of the Great Recession, apparently that was not the case with Washington politician.

The Post investigation shows that even in down economic times, the political class has rigged the system that they do not suffer like the rest of the country, just like in the “Hunger Games.” In the “Hunger Games,” people living in the capital city enjoy the fruits of others’ labors, seemingly impervious to the sufferings and tribulations of regular citizens.

Nowhere is this more prevalent than what happened, or did not happen, to politicians as a result of the Great Recession:

• According to the article and investigation, the wealthiest one-third of the 535 lawmakers, 180 or so, in Congress were largely untouched by the Great Recession. Think about that fact. The worst economic downturn since 1929 and the richest Congressional members did not even feel a financial bump.
• Their personal investment results took lesser financial hits and their investments recovered quicker and rose to new heights than most Americans.
• About 141 members of Congress did experience substantial financial hits like most Americans but this is less than 180 or so who did much better as a result of the Great Recession.
• While the average American household saw its median net worth DROP 39% during the recession, the median estimated wealth of Congressional members actually went UP 5% in the same time frame.
• The wealthiest one third of Congress saw their median wealth go up 14% in the midst of the greatest economic downturn since the Depression compared to the decrease of 39% drop regular Americans experienced.
• Between 2004 and 2010, 72 Congressional members probably doubled their estimated wealth, a time period that included the Great Recession.
• At least 150 members of Congress reported that they get more income from outside jobs and investments than from their Congressional salaries of $174,000, making one wonder if they are doing any work at all relative to their Congressional responsibilities and charter.
• Thus, we should not be surprised that House of Representatives members in 2010 had a median estimated wealth of $746,000 and Senators had $2.6 million estimated wealth, with apparently most of that wealth not coming from their Congressional salary, even when they were in office.
• The Post article reported that 73 Congressional members sponsored or co-sponsored legislation that could have directly benefited businesses or industries in that they or their families had a vested financial or other interest in. They did not just vote on these obvious conflicts of interest, they SPONSORED these conflicts of interest.
• Of the 72 Congressional members whose estimated wealth doubled between 2004 and 2010, a time period that included the Great Recession, the Post’s calculations show that 11 increased their financial wealth by at least $10 million, based on the midpoint of their reported ranges.

Now, granted, some members of Congress did lose a lot of money over the past ten years or so. One had to file for bankruptcy and some others saw their wealth drop considerably, some because of bad business investments or bad economic luck. But several lost a lot of wealth as a result of defending themselves against ethics violations.

However, a great many in Congress and the Washington political class did quite well or are doing quite well for themselves for themselves while in office. Unlike most other Americans who saw their household wealth get shellacked during the Great Recession, many in Washington just went along, in “Hunger Game” fashion, oblivious to the suffering and stress of regular Americans.

They were to busy getting richer, too busy running their outside business interests rather than the nation’s business, and too busy to care about the state of the nation and the issues facing Americans today, issues that they probably do not even know exist outside of their Utopian lives in the “Hunger Games” capital of America.

That term limits idea is getting better everyday.

Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at:

www.loathemygovernment.com

It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.

Please visit the following sites for freedom:

http://www.reason.com/
http://www.cato.org/
http://www.robertringer.com/
http://realpolichick.blogspot.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w

The Political Class: Just Like The Kindergarten Playground

Believe me, I do try to look for the good in our politicians. However, they constantly remind me of what it was like in the kindergarten playground at lunch, let's not do anything construction, let's just call each other bad names. This analogy came to mind today when I read that Democratic Congressman Frank Pallone, speaking for the Democratic National Committee, tried to characterize Tea Party members and their supporters as elitists. My personal definition of an elitist is someone who pictures themselves as better and more deserving of favored treatment than others around himself, usually because he has a self perceived superiority in intellect or wealth, in other words a snob. I am assuming that Pallone was trying to portray Tea Party people as out of touch with regular voters and that regular voters have little in common with the Tea Party positions.

This gets me back to the kindergarten analogy. Rather than engage in straight forward debate of the issues, the Democrats, in this case, would rather throw derogatory names around and try to win with public relations spins and not facts and performance. The truth is, if the political class was serving this country, and eventually solved a major problem or two such as the drug problem, failing public schools, energy vulnerability, foreign affairs, rising health care costs, etc., the Tea Party movement would not exist. Now that it does exist, problem solving and intelligent debate goes out the window and personal attacks and political maneuvering reign supreme.

Beyond this childish way to address the issues, who really are the elitists in this country today? If you believe an April CBS/New York Times poll:

• According to the Denver Post and the poll, Tea Party members are not right wing kooks.
• On average, Tea Party members are better educated and slightly more affluent than the average American.
• 57% of them support gay marriage or civil unions.
• 65% of them support legal access to abortion.
• A plurality of them do not think Sarah Palin is qualified to be President.

Hardly sounds like elitists to me. And even if they were, why not engage them in debate and argue the issues rather than stand behind childish press releases?

Who are the elitists in this country? Consider the following analysis from CBS News from late 2009 which summarized work done by the Center For Responsive Politics:

• 44% or 237 members of Congress are likely millionaires while only 1% of the overall United States population are millionaires.
• Four out of the top five richest people in Congress are Democrats.
• These top five are all worth over $200 million each with two of them worth about a quarter billion each.
• Fourteen out of the top twenty five richest people in Congress are Democrats.
• The median net worth of the people serving in the Senate is $1.79 million, indicating that quite a few more than half are millionaires.
• These estimates do not include their salaries or the worth of their homes and other residences so that these estimates may be on the low side.
• In a disgusting conflict of interest highlight of the analysis, the Center For Responsive Politics noted that "in some cases, [lawmakers'] wealth is being derived form the very companies that in many cases benefit from taxpayers. The top companies at which members of Congress are investing, many of them are TARP recipients that have received billions and billions of dollars from you and me." These companies include Bank of America and Goldman Sachs.

Take these elitist type numbers and combine them with two more facts about the American political class: Bill and Hillary Clinton have earned well over $100 million over the past decade or so and are about to spend anywhere from $3 million to $5 million to marry off their daughter in the very near future. If you divide the low end of the estimate by the expected number of guests (500), we see that the Clintons are about to spend $6,000 per guest at their daughter's wedding. Nothing says elitist to me than that obscene number.

Thus, Pallone should maybe stop calling people names that do not correspond to the facts of life. Tea Party members are much closer to the average American than those serving the political class and even if they were not, kindergarten name calling is no substitute for honest and open debate of the issues. Tea Party people are entitled to their opinions without harassment from politicians.

This topic brings a number of Steps from "Love My Country, Loathe my Government" into play:

• Our old favorite, Step 39, which would impose term limits on all Federal politicians, would certainly help destroy the elitism aura the political class likes to shroud themselves in by bringing in dedicated Americans for a short amount of time to serve their country without becoming so self centered that they view any differing opinion as a threat to be wiped out and not a chance to debate for the good of the country.
• Step 41, a Step we do not talk about often, also comes into play here in that this step would not allow any Federal politician whose net worth was over $3 million to draw a Federal salary. If you are worth $200 million, as some of our current politicians are, than your Federal salary of $170,000 or so is about .085% of your net worth, i.e. it is a fly speck relative to you bank account and balance sheet. This money would be held by the Treasury as a small contribution to offsetting our national debt. You should be in Washington to serve the country, if you can afford to do it without a salary, that is what you should do as a symbolic way of helping to fix our financial straits.
• Step 42, another step we do not talk much about, is also in play in this area. Many past Presidents, but especially Clinton, have left office and made untold millions of dollars after their term was up. Step 42 would set criteria for them to start paying back the country for their Secret Service expenses if their income or net worth exceeded certain thresholds. For the Clintons, and their $100 million earnings, with more to come in the future, the American taxpayer should not have to pay for their Secret Service protection. The wealth they have accumulated is a result of their time in office should be used to pay for their own protection.

Nobody wants to relive their kindergarten years but, unfortunately, we seem to do it just about every day when politicians throw around names rather than solutions. That is why we need to execute our own solution in November and throw all incumbents out of office and finally graduate at least to first grade from an issue resolution perspective.

Our new book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at www.loathemygovernment.com. It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.

Also visit the following sites for freedom:

http://www.cato.org/
http://www.reason.com/
http://www.robertringer.com/
http://www.realpolichick.blogspot.com/
http://www.flipcongress2010.com/

Pimp My Ride, Taxpayers

Today's topic centers around an article from the NY Times (not my favorite publication) that ran on May 1, 2008. It tied in nicely to a story I heard recently on the tv news that stated Congressmen and Senators get free gasoline for their cars while in Washington while the rest of us pay not only for the gas but the state and Federal taxes that go with it. The title of the article was, "What Would You Drive if the Taxpayers Paid?" Apparently, members of the House Of Representatives are allowed to lease any car they want while in office and have the American taxpayer pay for the cost of the lease along with the gasoline that they use, a point brought up in the article, verifying the television report I referred to above.

As if this program of greed was not bad enough, you would hope that these United States leaders would at least be frugal in what they leased, would support domestic car manufacturers, and would be mileage conscious to minimize the impact on taxpayers. Not quite the case according to the article:

• Charles Rangel of New York leases a Cadillac for more than $777 a month (expensive and lousy mileage)
• Charlie Melancon of Louisiana leases a Chevy Tahoe (lousy mileage)
• Bobby Rush of Illinois leases a Lincoln Navigator (expensive and lousy mileage)
• Alcee Hastings of Florida leases an Infiniti M45 (foreign manufacturer and expensive)
• Maurice Hinchley of New York leases a BMW 530i (foreign manufacturer and expensive)
• Edolphus Towns of New York leases Lincoln MKX for $715 a month (expensive and lousy mileage)
• Gregory Meeks of New York leases a Leexus LS 460 for $998 a month (foreign manufacturer and way too expensive)
• Louise Slaughter of New York leases a Buick Lucerne for $808 a month (too expensive)

According to the article, not only do the taxpayers pay for the lease and gas but they also pay for maintenance, insurance, registration fees, and excess mileage charges. The article states that about 125 members of the House were using this program in mid-2008. If you take the monthly leasing costs of all examples mentioned in the article and multiply that average monthly lease cost by 125 participating House members, you get an annual taxpayer cost of about $1 million, just for the leases. Lord knows how high the costs go when you add in gas and these other perks of the program.

This is just one other example of this elitist mentality that has pervaded the American political class. It is not about solving the nation's problems, it is about taking care of themselves at taxpayers' expense. It is about getting themselves the good life while the nation and its citizens suffer. These are the same people whose $170,000 or so annual salaries put them in the top 5% of wage earners in this country, wage earners who have to pay for all of these car related expenses of their own household besides for these politicians' households. It is programs like this that Steps One and Two in the book would go after and thousands of other similar wasteful programs to get this country's debt levels and spending under control while not degrading the lives of ordinary Americans at all.

In closing, I loved the justification put forth by Congresswoman Slaughter whose lease runs taxpayers over $800 a month. She claims that she has a big district that requires her to drive around a lot in snow covered areas and the Buick along with its GPS system are necessary. However, what the Congresswoman does not mention is that US Senators do not have a similar program to this House giveaway program and seem to get by quite nicely despite having areas that are state wide and larger than Ms. Slaughter's district. These Senators seem to do quite nicely without a taxpayer perk, at least in this area. To them I say thank you.