Congresspeople Redistributing Wealth -- To Themselves
The guy in the video is pretty annoying, and then, I have nothing against people making money, but how are members of Congress increasing their net worth by MILLIONS while in office? Okay, maybe a few have spouses who are scoring financially, but this seems obscene.
See the list here of skyrocketing wealth.
The guy in the video has also skyrocketed his own wealth. He sold overpriced real estate in Florida to unsuspecting investors and made millions.
Vix at July 28, 2011 10:47 AM
Providing he didn't do that at gunpoint or using elected office for personal gain, why is that any of my business or yours?
Amy Alkon at July 28, 2011 10:55 AM
The members of Congress are supposed to be public servants, not the private elite. Our government needs an overhaul. These people are not doing their job's; and you know as well as I do that if it were you or me screwing up this bad we'd be fired!
Melody at July 28, 2011 10:59 AM
Usefull in seeing who is getting the direct and indirect bribes. However, the math is wrong or at least very odd. I took a look at the link and the way they figured out % increase in wealth is wrong in treating positive and negative starting wealth.
Basically % increase is a meaningless metric when you are talking about negative assets, or very low assets.
As hopefully this will demonstate:
Person A has $1 to their name, at the end of the year they have $1001, a 1000x increase.
Person B has $100 to their name at the end of the year they have $1100, but this is only a 10x increase.
Person C owes $.01 and at the end of the year has $999.09, this is a 100,000 X increase.
Each person made or saved 1000 not an unreasonable sum but the % increase (10x, 1000x or 100,000x) is ridiculous.
So if you go from $3,000 assets to 18,000 assets, that just shows you saved .02% of your salary.
and really shouldn't be on any chart.
But if you go from -10 mill to + anything, some major kickback happened.
Joe at July 28, 2011 12:30 PM
I also love the term "unsuspecting investors", shouldn't all investors be suspecting.
Joe at July 28, 2011 1:32 PM
"The guy in the video has also skyrocketed his own wealth. He sold overpriced real estate in Florida to unsuspecting investors and made millions"
Yes, because voluntary transactions between consenting private owners of wealth are exactly the same as corrupt politicians accepting kickbacks, no difference at all. All rich people are exactly the same, you see.
Lobster at July 28, 2011 8:22 PM
This means nothing because it doesn't show where the wealth comes from.
He makes a statement saying congress is exempt from insider trading laws, but doesn't go on to show these people were trading based on information.
I could see being upset if a congressman bought stock in a company based on information learned during a committee meeting, but this is only implied, not shown.
Obama is on the list. Based on my memory his increase comes from sales of his book, and buying a home for a discounted price from his buddy. The house is a bit odd, and has been discussed in the press.
Terry Gibbs at July 29, 2011 11:43 AM
It's possible some of these people had spouses who struck it rich, and that they came by their money without using their office to increase their wealth. But, doesn't it look rather suspicious to you that Congresspeople by the bucketful are getting wildly rich while on the job?
And Lobster above is exactly right.
Amy Alkon at July 29, 2011 11:55 AM
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