FROM ROLL CALL: THOSE WHO “OCCUPYCONGRESS” GETTING RICHER
By Greater Long Beach
FROM ROLLCALL.COM: Members of Congress had a collective net worth of more than $2 billion in 2010, a nearly 25-percent increase over the 2008 total, according to a Roll Call analysis of Members’ financial disclosure forms.
Nearly 90 percent of that increase is concentrated in the 50 richest Members of Congress.
Two years ago, Roll Call found that the minimum net worth of House Members was slightly more than $1 billion; Senators had a combined minimum worth of $651 million for a Congressional total of $1.65 billion. Roll Call calculates minimum net worth by adding the minimum values of all reported assets and subtracting the minimum values of all reported liabilities.
According to financial disclosure forms filed by Members of Congress this year, the minimum net worth in the House has jumped to $1.26 billion, and Senate net worth has climbed to at least $784 million, for a Congressional total of $2.04 billion.
These wealth totals vastly underestimate the actual net worth of Members of Congress because they are based on an accounting system that does not include homes and other non-income-generating property, which is likely to tally hundreds of millions of uncounted dollars. In addition, Roll Call’s tally is based on the minimum values of assets reported by Members on their annual financial disclosure forms; the true values of those assets may be much higher. (Story reported by Paul Singer and Jennifer Yachnin.)
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4 Comments
And this vastly understates the wealth members of Congress almost-instantaneously accumulate after leaving office and being given a sinecure by the industry they enriched the most through their actions.
If anyone knows of a website that systematically tracks what members of Congress are paid in their first, second, third, etc. years out of office, that would be a real eye-opener.
im not sure anyone tracks that but this is interesting
Members of Congress Get Abnormally High Returns From Their Stocks
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/…/members-of-congress-get-a_n_866387...
Does that article also explain that Congress exempted itself from insider trading laws?
Instead of eliminating conflicts of interest, they decided to encourage them and personally profit on them. Public interest, by law, is to take a back seat to their private gain.
Democrats and Republicans alike passed this — it’s almost as if they are in the 1% together, opposing actions that might benefit those of us in the 99.
not almost if, if. no doubt about it.