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Debt-Ceiling Impact Unimportant to Deep Pocket Politicians
by Debrah McFarlane
We live in a country where we are continuously reminded that wealth is unequally distributed. Nowhere is this fact more evident than in our current state of predicament surrounding the continuous fighting amongst the richest men in our government. It is rather improbable that you will miss the incessant bombardment of media broadcasts on the economic threats to veterans benefits, social security checks, and the imminent tumbling of the credit guarantees of the country. However, it is imperative that we all stop and think about main reason that the debt-ceiling discussions have continued to fail among our representatives in Congress.
Most of our congressional members are extremely affluent individuals whose pocketbook will more than likely remain intact if they refuse to come to a consensus on the debt-ceiling talks prior to August 2nd, 2011. If our congressional and state representatives truely represented our interests in congress, rather than their inflated egos, there would have already been a compromise in order to arrive at a solution to the debt-ceiling talks. Leaders would be thinking about the repercussions of their actions on Americans who continue to live paycheck to paycheck, rather than focusing on a game of cat and mouse with peoples’ livelihood.
Currently, there are mostly self-serving millionaires in Congress representing impoverished Americans; and it is not difficult to understand why their egos take precedence over the interests of their constituents. We have become so good at being taken advantange of by our representatives that they have come to realize that unless they ”pull a Weiner or a Wu”, they are essentially untouchable. Though the following figures are not exact, they will give you an idea of the the financial assets of some of our richest members of congress. These members will not be affected by America’s default on its debt, lack of available benefits for veterans, social security recipient, and others depending the resolution of the debt-ceiling talks. Do they really have America’s or their own interests as priority? If the debt-ceiling fiasco meant that they would lose all their financial assets, would the issue have been resolved already? Here is a list of some of your elected deep pockets in congress:
- Republican Gary Miller -$19.37 million
- Republican Sen. James Risch – $19.69 million
- Republican Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen – $19.90 million
- Democratic Rep. Nancy Pelosi – $21.74 million
- Democratic Rep. Alan Grayson – $31.41 million
- Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein – $46.07 million
- Democratic Sen. Frank Lautenberg – $49.70 million
- Republican Rep. Vern Buchanan – $55.47 million
- Democratic Rep. Jared Polis – $56.49 million
- Democratic Sen. Mark Warner – $70.19 million
- Republican Rep. Michael McCaul – $73.75 million
- Democratic Sen. Jay Rockefellar – $81.50
- Democratic Rep. Jane Harman – $152.62
- Republican Rep. Darrell Issa – $160.05
- Democratic Sen. John Kerry – $188.37
Although the above list does not comprise all the millionaire politicians representing the interests of lower and middle class Americans, it does demonstrate that a politician’s affluence can and do impact how and whether he or she altruistically represents constituents or his or her business interests. A prime example of interests being represented is our current debt-ceiling crisis debacle that seems to be going nowhere fast. The question now is not whose interests are being represented, but rather whose interests are practically nonexistent. It is not difficult to understand why the millionaire politicians want to avoid tax increases on their private jets, incomes, and overall assets. However, if an individual gets elected based on the premise that he or she will represent the people and their best interests, priority of conscience should be the people’s and not the politicians business interests.
Short URL: http://www.veteranstoday.com/?p=124850
Posted by Debrah McFarlane on Jul 28 2011, With 0 Reads, Filed under Benefits, Vet News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
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Your list does not do justice to the number of millionaires on Capitol Hill.
According to CBS news:
Sixty percent of Senate freshman and more than 40 percent of House freshmen are millionaires, according to an analysis from the Center for Responsive Politics.
While the base pay for members of Congress is $174,000, nearly half — 261, to be exact — are millionaires, according to an analysis of 2009 data from the Center for Responsive Politics (there are 535 total members of the House and Senate).
So do you really think they represent the people (main street)?
They are disproportionally rich, white male, Christian and Jewish not in any particular order, but not anywhere near representing the populace as a whole. In other words, they represent the ruling class of America, not the common folks. It would be a fresh breath of air if the US people demanded more real representation of the common folks in congress, instead of those who want to maintain he status quo and run American into the ground through wars, debt and greed.
there was a time in our country when you did not have to be a millionaire to run for congress maybe there should be a law that you can not have assets exceeding 500k and no one can contribute more than 50 dollars to a canidate for congress or any elected offical so real people can run for office with a max term limit of 4 years.
too many rich people make a living being professional politions well a max term limit of 4 years would stop all these reprensatives from becoming rich and richer the longer they hold office the longer they have favors they owe the ones giving big money to help them getting re-elected and the deeper the elected officals have and the more favores they owe the people funding their re-elections. Thus the less they have the american peoples best interest in their mind just how much money they can put in their own pockets.
Visit tdarkcabal.blogspot.com and read the White Hat reports about vast amounts of money that has been STOLEN by US government officials. Visit alcuinbramerton.blogspot.com and read about letter relating to the TROPOS funds stolen by USA officials that was sent to Christine Le Guarde. Not only are our Congresspeople far too rich to relate to the average person in this country…they engineered the neoliberal policies that have transferred wealth from the lower and middle classes to themselves and their patrons. IT IS TIME TO DEMAND THAT THEY ALL DECONSTRUCT THE MESS THAT THEY HAVE MADE OF OUR ECONOMY AND RETURN TO THE RULE OF LAW.
I always said we need more hairdressers, mechanics, painters, and secretaries in Congress. The people in there are too rich too care. They have their money and their main purpose is making sure they keep their money. I would ban all campaign commercials on TV and make them campaign in front of the people. Let them come out from behind their desks and face us. And if the debt ceiling isn’t increase, Congress would be the first people not to receive a check.
All I can say is….touche. They are in the same “yacht” as the rest of the wealthy. They don’t really give a crap
about the low and middle class. They want their tax breaks no matter if they do or don’t get re-elected. Screw
the rest of us. Semper Fi.