Forget Wall Street. With riches like these, “Occupy Congress” may make more sense.
That’s because 250 members of Congress — or 47 percent — have a net worth of more than $1 million, according to a new study by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics.
The study, which analyzed data from legislators’ financial disclosure forms, found the average senator had a net worth of about $2.63 million last year. That’s up 11 percent from $2.38 million in 2009 and 16 percent from $2.27 million in 2008.
“The vast majority of members of Congress are quite comfortable financially, while many of their own constituents suffer from economic hardships,” Sheila Krumholz, executive director of the Center for Responsive Politics, said in a statement.
Some have suggested the dizzying financial success enjoyed by members of Congress is about more than luck, or even good business sense. Peter Schweizer, a fellow with the conservative Hoover Institution, has said lawmakers profit from a kind of “insider trading” that might get them in trouble outside the halls of Congress.
“There are all sorts of forms of honest grafts that congressmen engage in that allow them to become very, very wealthy. So it’s not illegal, but I think it’s highly unethical, I think it’s highly offensive, and wrong,” Schweizer, the author of “Throw Them All Out,” a book accusing congressmen of using their influence and connections to make smart investments, said in an interview with CBS’ “60 Minutes” this month.
“For example, insider trading on the stock market,” he said. “If you are a member of Congress, those laws are deemed not to apply.”
Krumholz appears to agree. “It’s no surprise that so many people grumble about lawmakers being out-of-touch,” she said. “Few Americans enjoy the same financial cushion maintained by most members of Congress — or the same access to market-altering information that could yield personal financial gains.”
That said, some members of Congress do considerably better than others. Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., topped the list with an estimated net worth of somewhere between $195 million and $700 million, for example, while Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Fla., is apparently the poorest member of Congress, with estimated total net debt of between $2 million and $7 million. According to the study, though, 110 Democrats and 140 Republicans in Congress are millionaires.
What’s more, the numbers are conservative, since the top income bracket for their spouses is listed as “$1 million or more,” and the financial disclosure forms don’t include assets like the personal home of a member of Congress.
Even without exact figures, however, it’s clear that as most Americans struggled in recent years, contending with high unemployment rates and plummeting home values, Congress has only gotten richer. Last year, the combined net worth of Congress skyrocketed to more than $2 billion — a 25 percent increase from 2008, according to a separate look at the lawmakers’ earnings from the Washington newspaper Roll Call.
Meanwhile, the average U.S. family lost 23 percent of its net worth between 2007 and 2009, according to figures released by the Federal Reserve this year.
Ahead of an election season likely to bring a sharp focus to the weak economy, the yawning gap between congressional bank accounts and the harsh realities for constituents is particularly glaring.
“It causes government to lose legitimacy in the minds of voters or citizens,” David Barker, a finance professor at the University of Iowa and a libertarian, told The Daily yesterday. “This reminds people that congressmen aren’t interested in the public good, they’re interested in their own careers. They run for Congress because they think it’s going to be profitable.”
And the lavish sums could bring new scrutiny to a Congress with an approval rating of just 13 percent, up from an all-time low of 9 percent last month. The dismal figures recently prompted Sen. Michael Bennet, a Colorado Democrat, to create a groan-inducing chart showing more Americans approved of President Nixon during the Watergate scandal and oil giant BP during the Deepwater Horizon disaster than approved of Congress last month.
Barker, the author of “Welcome to Free America,” a book about what life in America would be like if the government collapsed, said it’s not quite fair to say that Congress holds itself above the law.
“It’s true that congressmen use info that they learn in Congress to make money. Whether it’s legal or not is a completely different question. Saying, ‘Oh, Congress has exempted themselves from the insider trading laws,’ that’s not quite right.”
Mara.Gay@thedaily.com
THE RATING GAME
With Congress’ so-called “supercommittee” looking almost certain to fail in spectacular fashion, economists are beginning to discuss possible collateral damage.
At the top of the list: Uncle Sam’s credit rating.
In theory, the committee — charged with finding a way to slash the deficit — must approve a $1.2 trillion deficit reduction plan by Nov. 23 or trigger automatic cuts of the same amount in 2013. But Democrats and Republicans remain far apart on how much to rely on tax increases for the wealthy versus making spending cuts.
The ratings agency Moody’s said this month that automatic cuts could protect the U.S. from a downgrade if the supercommittee fails. But that changes if Congress impedes the cuts, several economists said this week.
“If that automatic sequestration, or automatic budget cuts, are in some way tampered with by Congress, then we could be at risk for another downgrade,” Michael Feroli, chief U.S. economist at JPMorgan Chase, said on Bloomberg Television.
Standard & Poor’s downgraded the United States’ triple-A credit rating in August after an impasse over raising the debt ceiling sparked doubt about politicians’ ability to solve the country’s larger debt problem. Analysts worried a second downgrade would spook markets.
“If Congress is seen as further pushing off difficult decisions … markets will again focus on the potential for rating downgrades and the inability to make tougher decisions in the future,” a Bank of America report published Friday said.
– Ashley Kindergan
That’s because 250 members of Congress — or 47 percent — have a net worth of more than $1 million, according to a new study by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics.
The study, which analyzed data from legislators’ financial disclosure forms, found the average senator had a net worth of about $2.63 million last year. That’s up 11 percent from $2.38 million in 2009 and 16 percent from $2.27 million in 2008.
“The vast majority of members of Congress are quite comfortable financially, while many of their own constituents suffer from economic hardships,” Sheila Krumholz, executive director of the Center for Responsive Politics, said in a statement.
Some have suggested the dizzying financial success enjoyed by members of Congress is about more than luck, or even good business sense. Peter Schweizer, a fellow with the conservative Hoover Institution, has said lawmakers profit from a kind of “insider trading” that might get them in trouble outside the halls of Congress.
“There are all sorts of forms of honest grafts that congressmen engage in that allow them to become very, very wealthy. So it’s not illegal, but I think it’s highly unethical, I think it’s highly offensive, and wrong,” Schweizer, the author of “Throw Them All Out,” a book accusing congressmen of using their influence and connections to make smart investments, said in an interview with CBS’ “60 Minutes” this month.
“For example, insider trading on the stock market,” he said. “If you are a member of Congress, those laws are deemed not to apply.”
Krumholz appears to agree. “It’s no surprise that so many people grumble about lawmakers being out-of-touch,” she said. “Few Americans enjoy the same financial cushion maintained by most members of Congress — or the same access to market-altering information that could yield personal financial gains.”
That said, some members of Congress do considerably better than others. Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., topped the list with an estimated net worth of somewhere between $195 million and $700 million, for example, while Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Fla., is apparently the poorest member of Congress, with estimated total net debt of between $2 million and $7 million. According to the study, though, 110 Democrats and 140 Republicans in Congress are millionaires.
What’s more, the numbers are conservative, since the top income bracket for their spouses is listed as “$1 million or more,” and the financial disclosure forms don’t include assets like the personal home of a member of Congress.
Even without exact figures, however, it’s clear that as most Americans struggled in recent years, contending with high unemployment rates and plummeting home values, Congress has only gotten richer. Last year, the combined net worth of Congress skyrocketed to more than $2 billion — a 25 percent increase from 2008, according to a separate look at the lawmakers’ earnings from the Washington newspaper Roll Call.
Meanwhile, the average U.S. family lost 23 percent of its net worth between 2007 and 2009, according to figures released by the Federal Reserve this year.
Ahead of an election season likely to bring a sharp focus to the weak economy, the yawning gap between congressional bank accounts and the harsh realities for constituents is particularly glaring.
“It causes government to lose legitimacy in the minds of voters or citizens,” David Barker, a finance professor at the University of Iowa and a libertarian, told The Daily yesterday. “This reminds people that congressmen aren’t interested in the public good, they’re interested in their own careers. They run for Congress because they think it’s going to be profitable.”
And the lavish sums could bring new scrutiny to a Congress with an approval rating of just 13 percent, up from an all-time low of 9 percent last month. The dismal figures recently prompted Sen. Michael Bennet, a Colorado Democrat, to create a groan-inducing chart showing more Americans approved of President Nixon during the Watergate scandal and oil giant BP during the Deepwater Horizon disaster than approved of Congress last month.
Barker, the author of “Welcome to Free America,” a book about what life in America would be like if the government collapsed, said it’s not quite fair to say that Congress holds itself above the law.
“It’s true that congressmen use info that they learn in Congress to make money. Whether it’s legal or not is a completely different question. Saying, ‘Oh, Congress has exempted themselves from the insider trading laws,’ that’s not quite right.”
Mara.Gay@thedaily.com
THE RATING GAME
With Congress’ so-called “supercommittee” looking almost certain to fail in spectacular fashion, economists are beginning to discuss possible collateral damage.
At the top of the list: Uncle Sam’s credit rating.
In theory, the committee — charged with finding a way to slash the deficit — must approve a $1.2 trillion deficit reduction plan by Nov. 23 or trigger automatic cuts of the same amount in 2013. But Democrats and Republicans remain far apart on how much to rely on tax increases for the wealthy versus making spending cuts.
The ratings agency Moody’s said this month that automatic cuts could protect the U.S. from a downgrade if the supercommittee fails. But that changes if Congress impedes the cuts, several economists said this week.
“If that automatic sequestration, or automatic budget cuts, are in some way tampered with by Congress, then we could be at risk for another downgrade,” Michael Feroli, chief U.S. economist at JPMorgan Chase, said on Bloomberg Television.
Standard & Poor’s downgraded the United States’ triple-A credit rating in August after an impasse over raising the debt ceiling sparked doubt about politicians’ ability to solve the country’s larger debt problem. Analysts worried a second downgrade would spook markets.
“If Congress is seen as further pushing off difficult decisions … markets will again focus on the potential for rating downgrades and the inability to make tougher decisions in the future,” a Bank of America report published Friday said.
– Ashley Kindergan
