Congressmen's incomes triple while America gets poorer

[MARIS61]

http://rt.com/usa/news/wealth-congress-lawmakers-poor-759/
...
While the US Census Bureau reports half of America as either impoverished or otherwise living in low-income conditions, 250 members of Congress — nearly half of the Hill — can say that they are legit millionaires.

In Washington DC, one-in-ten residents live below half of the poverty line — but if you can track down Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) in his Capitol Hill chamber, you might be able to borrow a few bucks from the richest man in Congress — who holds onto $294.21 million in assets.

Rep. McCaul wasn’t always as lucky. Back in 2005, his worth was only at around $12 million.

But with dozens of lawmakers worth more than just one or two millions, those that they represent think that perhaps their vote isn’t being cast by a voice that really represents the people.
...

The National Defense Authorization Act that recently cleared Congress has become a hot topic for debate among average Americans who fear the provisions in the bill that will allow for the US to detain and torture citizens indefinitely.

Despite petitions and pleas from coast-to-coast, the legislation passed overwhelmingly. As it turns out, many politicians may be representatives of the people, but their voices are ones bought by corporations.

Senator Robert Portman (R-Ohio) not only voted in favor of the NDAA, he also received $272,853 from the special interest groups that backed the bill.

 

[Denny Crane]

I saw on TV that something like 15 of the richest counties in the USA are directly surrounding D.C.

Transfer of wealth form everywhere else to govt. workers.

 

[BLAZER PROPHET]

However, to be fair, most of McCaul's money comes from his wife and her side of the family.

Here's the top 50: http://www.rollcall.com/50richest/the-50-richest-members-of-congress-112th.html

Getting back to Maris' link, other quotes:

Between the US Senate and House of Representatives, the median net worth for a member of Congress is around $913,000, reports The New York Times. That man in the middle is Ed Pastor (Dem-AZ), and although he makes a pretty penny nowadays, his income today is gigantic when gauged with what he was worth when he first came to Washington. Twenty years earlier, Pastor pulled in enough to have only $100,000 saved up, a figure he has magnified nearly tenfold in the two decades since. For others, incomes are subsidized in other ways. Rep. Pastor from Arizona, his income is also subsidized by Social Security.

Between the US Senate and House of Representatives, the median net worth for a member of Congress is around $913,000, reports The New York Times. While the US Census Bureau reports half of America as either impoverished or otherwise living in low-income conditions, 250 members of Congress — nearly half of the Hill — can say that they are legit millionaires.

 

[MARIS61]

I saw on TV that something like 15 of the richest counties in the USA are directly surrounding D.C.

Transfer of wealth form everywhere else to govt. workers.

I think it's massively misleading to lump "government workers" most of whom earn wages similar to private sector jobs of the same type, with politicians who get to vote themselves raises, pensions and cadillac healthcare.

For instance, in 1973 I took my first job working for a corporation after owning my own business for several years. Most of the time I drove a forklift on graveyard shift for $14 hr and did a lot of overtime at $21 hr.

In 1989 I was riffed (Reduction-In-Force) from my photographer job at the Corps of Engineers due to the effects of Reagan's privatization (which nearly doubled the eventual costs to the taxpayers) and I grabbed a job at BLM for awhile mostly driving a forklift for $12.61 hr. I eventually left the government to return to the private sector, then left the private sector for self-employment when I got tired of working for morons.

Today in 2012, that BLM job is done by an employee of a private firm who never sees him because he works for my old supervisor who is still a BLM employee. The private firm forklift driver is payed $22 hr and the firm gets an extra $5.50 hr, all at taxpayer expense.

 

[Haakzilla]

...after Woodrow was elected in 1912, the US has never been the same. His agenda included the Federal Reserve Act; Federal Trade Commission Act; the Clayton Antitrust Act; the Federal Farm Loan Act; and an income tax. Sadly, I don't think he actually read/understood all of those acts to their fullest before passing them into law. To this day, we are still paying dearly for some of these grave mistakes.

 

[julius]

am I the only one who sees a subtle dig at Jewish people here?

 

[SlyPokerDog]

am I the only one who sees a subtle dig at Jewish people here?

Subtle?

 

[BlazerCaravan]

Subtle?

No kidding.

What's interesting is that there's a non-racist version of the cartoon that HAAK could have found and used...

http://garrisongraphics.blogspot.com/2011/05/libelous-bigots-attack-me.html

...but perhaps the one he chose made his point for him.

 

[MARIS61]

To be fair, world finance is and always has been utterly dominated by jews. I'm not saying that's a bad thing, or a good thing, but it is a fact.

 

[Denny Crane]

I think it's massively misleading to lump "government workers" most of whom earn wages similar to private sector jobs of the same type, with politicians who get to vote themselves raises, pensions and cadillac healthcare.

For instance, in 1973 I took my first job working for a corporation after owning my own business for several years. Most of the time I drove a forklift on graveyard shift for $14 hr and did a lot of overtime at $21 hr.

In 1989 I was riffed (Reduction-In-Force) from my photographer job at the Corps of Engineers due to the effects of Reagan's privatization (which nearly doubled the eventual costs to the taxpayers) and I grabbed a job at BLM for awhile mostly driving a forklift for $12.61 hr. I eventually left the government to return to the private sector, then left the private sector for self-employment when I got tired of working for morons.

Today in 2012, that BLM job is done by an employee of a private firm who never sees him because he works for my old supervisor who is still a BLM employee. The private firm forklift driver is payed $22 hr and the firm gets an extra $5.50 hr, all at taxpayer expense.

I don't think it's govt. workers. I think it's govt. contractors and lobbyists.

 

[julius]

Subtle?

Yeah, subtle. I had to look for at least 2 seconds before I saw it.

 

[PapaG]

Subtle?

About as subtle as your signature.

The only things missing are gold coins falling out of his pockets.

 

[Fez Hammersticks]

"American politics is a charade." - Sean Lennon

 

[BlazerCaravan]

"American politics is a charade." - Sean Lennon

It's true, even if Sean is lesser in every way to Julian.

 

[PapaG]

Does anybody actually get poorer once they enter Congress?

It's the only $174k/year job that people spend millions of dollars to get.

 

[julius]

Does anybody actually get poorer once they enter Congress?

It's the only $174k/year job that people spend millions of dollars to get.

It is crazy to think about it that way (which is how i think about it). Plus, don't they have some kick ass retirement plan?

It's weird that to run the country, you have to spend almost a BILLION dollars.

And think about it, the really rich who spend 10's and 20's of millions for their candidate...they're obviously reaping somehow.

 

[Haakzilla]

To be fair, world finance is and always has been utterly dominated by jews. I'm not saying that's a bad thing, or a good thing, but it is a fact.

...precisely, being "Jewish" has nothing to do with the above cartoon's message.

 

[Haakzilla]

No kidding.

What's interesting is that there's a non-racist version of the cartoon that HAAK could have found and used...

http://garrisongraphics.blogspot.com/2011/05/libelous-bigots-attack-me.html

...but perhaps the one he chose made his point for him.

...same message [same "global elite bankers" above the clouds]:

 

[BlazerCaravan]

So why didn't you pick that one in the first place?

 

[julius]

...precisely, being "Jewish" has nothing to do with the above cartoon's message.

actually, with political cartoons portraying Jewish people in a negative light (along with a LOT of people), using stereotypes to further an opinion can be a really difficult line to walk.

If you don't see that the original cartoon is significantly different than the edited one (which if the original cartoonist is being truthful, isn't what he wanted to parlay), I don't know what to say about it. Not saying you are an anti-Semite or even an anti semi-colon, but the characteristics of the original cartoon are long held codes for anti-Semite behavior or beliefs.

the "Jews" control the money, they create all the problems, they're playing the rest of us, they're not "True Germans", etc.

If you look into WWI and WWII through cold war propaganda (which is fascinating shit) you see a lot of the non human characteristics brought into the drawings/cartoons.

This one obviously was a smarmy untrustworthy "jew" character.

You may not have intended it to be that, and I doubt you purposely saw the two cartoons and went with the one you did knowing full well there was a modified version out there, but it was obviously done by a man/woman or group who wanted to blame Jews for something.

 

[Haakzilla]

So why didn't you pick that one in the first place?

...didn't show up in the google image search early enough, I had no idea it even existed until some "Jew" pointed it out

 

[Haakzilla]

actually, with political cartoons portraying Jewish people in a negative light (along with a LOT of people), using stereotypes to further an opinion can be a really difficult line to walk.

If you don't see that the original cartoon is significantly different than the edited one (which if the original cartoonist is being truthful, isn't what he wanted to parlay), I don't know what to say about it. Not saying you are an anti-Semite or even an anti semi-colon, but the characteristics of the original cartoon are long held codes for anti-Semite behavior or beliefs.

the "Jews" control the money, they create all the problems, they're playing the rest of us, they're not "True Germans", etc.

If you look into WWI and WWII through cold war propaganda (which is fascinating shit) you see a lot of the non human characteristics brought into the drawings/cartoons.

This one obviously was a smarmy untrustworthy "jew" character.

You may not have intended it to be that, and I doubt you purposely saw the two cartoons and went with the one you did knowing full well there was a modified version out there, but it was obviously done by a man/woman or group who wanted to blame Jews for something.

...I believe the pyramid with the all seeing eye symbolizes a much worse scene than the "swamry untrustworthy Jew character" scene. Either way, in the end, the money/power trail eventually leads back to the same place with very few actually in control.

• Rothschild Banks of London and Berlin
• Lazard Brothers Banks of Paris
• Israel Moses Seif Banks of Italy
• Warburg Bank of Hamburg and Amsterdam
• Lehman Brothers of New York
• Kuhn, Loeb Bank of New York
• Chase Manhatten Bank, and
• Goldman, Sachs of New York

...by way of:

• Citibank
• Chase Manhatten Bank
• Morgan Guaranty Trust Company
• Chemical Bank
• Fleet Bank
• Summit Bank
• Marine Midland Bank
• Manufacturers Hanover Trust
• Bankers Trust Company
• National Bank of North America, and
• Bank of New York.

 

[julius]

...I believe the pyramid with the all seeing eye symbolizes a much worse scene than the "swamry untrustworthy Jew character" scene. Either way, in the end, the money/power trail eventually leads back to the same place with very few actually in control.

most people would recognize the pyramid with the all seeing eye because it's on the dollar bill.

Thing is, if the message can be made without implicating a ethnicity (often times wrongly blamed for other peoples problems), then why would they make it otherwise?

 

[Haakzilla]

most people would recognize the pyramid with the all seeing eye because it's on the dollar bill.

Thing is, if the message can be made without implicating a ethnicity (often times wrongly blamed for other peoples problems), then why would they make it otherwise?

...but most have no clue of its origins.

You'd have to determine who "they" are first...

 

[julius]

...but most have no clue of its origins.

You'd have to determine who "they" are first...

thats why the person who put the caricature up, because he (or she) knows most people would instantly catch on to what it was. Well, most adults I think. I felt a little uneasy looking at it, because I knew what exactly it meant to imply. The second picture (the original picture, if you will) is much easier to look at, and has a much deeper meaning.

The one with the caricature just makes me think "ah, blaming the jews again". The real one makes me think "banks" (which I don't associate with Jewish people).

but thats just me.

 

[Denny Crane]

Jews were historically bankers because money was considered dirty (touched by many people) and as 2nd rate citizens, the duty was put on them.

 

[BlazerCaravan]

Jews were historically bankers because money was considered dirty (touched by many people) and as 2nd rate citizens, the duty was put on them.

Pfft... Gentiles... bitch about money being dirty, bitch about Jews being bankers...

 

[barfo]

I saw on TV that something like 15 of the richest counties in the USA are directly surrounding D.C.

Transfer of wealth form everywhere else to govt. workers.

I don't think it's govt. workers. I think it's govt. contractors and lobbyists.

Ok, you are getting closer. Now let's note that government contractors and lobbyists are all, 100%, private sector employees.

So it has nothing to do with transfer of wealth to government workers.

barfo

 

[blazerboy30]

Is America actually "getting poorer"? No, it is actually Maris just trolling again.

 

[Fez Hammersticks]

America is clearly in good shape.