WHAT???

[Westernbiker]

Despite a long and deep recession, the collective personal wealth of congressional members increased by more than 16 percent between 2008 and 2009, according to a study released Wednesday by the Center for Responsive Politics.

The study also indicates that a significant number of members owned shares of major players in the health-care and financial-services sectors, which were the subject of major reform legislation during the period.

The findings-based on federal financial disclosure data released earlier this year-paint a wealthy bunch in Congress, with more than half of all members-261-were millionaires.

About one in five of those had average calculated wealth in 2009 of at least $10 million. Eight of the 261 were in the $100 million-plus range.

[SANDMAN5]

Yeah, that's what gripes me!! So many of them are "rich" enough when they
get elected. Why should they get a check for the rest of their life even if
they only serve one term? (Plus all the other benefits that we, the ones
that elected them don't qualify for?)
 If I were a millionaire and got elected to Congress, I'd say "keep your money,
just give me a gas card so I can ride back and forth to the House."

[GreenLantern57]

<faceslap> Really! 

Not new news and not likely to change. I do not know what president and congress started this, but the founders of our country did NOT want professional legislative branch.  There have been papers written that clarified the thought that - You come, you serve, you leave, you live under the same rules as the rest of the citizens. I do not know enough to say who started this trend, but you can bet our CHANGE president did not include reducing his or congress' pay and other handouts.

[alph]

well, just goes to prove it's not luck that makes a person rich.  it's being smart.  you wouldn't find an idiot working for minimum wage making it big now would you??

[Big Rig]

well we all know 261 idiots that have made it!!!

[art]

Thats another reason they want to ceep the tax cut for the rich an cut SS an medicare.An screw the working class.

[x]

You may not like Reich or the HuffPost but its hard to find fault with the article.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-reich/the-perfect-storm_1_b_767387.html

[Varmintmist]

Thats another reason they want to ceep the tax cut for the rich an cut SS an medicare.An screw the working class.

Funny how it was always a tax cut for the only the filthy rich greedy rich rich guys, until the Dems wanted to do away with the Bush tax cuts, then they found that they were against raising taxes on the middle and lower income brackets by doing away with the Bush tax cuts. Now they only want to raise taxes on the rich, and leave the rest of the Bush tax cuts in place, but they told us for years that the Bush tax cuts were only for the rich.

Hmmmmmmmmmmm

Sooooo, which is it? The Bush tax cuts were for everyone and the Dems lied, OR the Bush tax cuts were only for the rich and the Dems are lying now???

Hey Art. Tell us who was in charge every time there has ever been a CUT in SS. There are a lot of folks saying that one side wants to cut the SS, however there is only one side that has.

[Varmintmist]

You may not like Reich or the HuffPost but its hard to find fault with the article.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-reich/the-perfect-storm_1_b_767387.html

Beside the fact that we are not a democracy...

Reality, line one, Mr. Pot calling for Mr. Kettle.... R. Reich is pretty close with the owner of the democrat party.

In a November 11, 2003 interview with Laura Blumenfeld of the Washington Post,
Soros described how he had jump-started the Shadow Party during the
summer of 2002 by summoning a team of political strategists, activists,
and Democrat donors to his Southampton beach house in Long Island. The
attendees included: Morton H. Halperin (Director of Soros' Open Society Institute); John Podesta (Democrat strategist and former Bill Clinton chief
of staff); Jeremy Rosner (Democrat strategist and pollster, and
ex-foreign policy speechwriter for Bill Clinton); Robert Boorstin
(Democrat strategist and pollster); Carl Pope (America Coming Together co-founder, Democrat strategist, and Sierra Club Executive Director); Steve Rosenthal (Labor leader, CEO of America Coming Together, and former advisor to Clinton Labor Secretary Robert Reich); Peter Lewis (major Democrat donor and insurance entrepreneur); Rob Glaser (major Democrat donor and Silicon Valley pioneer); Ellen Malcolm (co-founder and President of America Coming Together and founder of Emily's List); Rob McKay (major Democrat donor); and Lewis and Dorothy Cullman (major Democrat donors).

http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/viewSubCategory.asp?id=589

http://investorcentric.blogs.nuwireinvestor.com/2009/06/george-soros-and-robert-reich-how-to.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Investorcentric+%28InvestorCentric%29

That said, he is correct that the power in this country is centered to closely on a few people. He is off on who they are.
They are in the Federal Government, the bureaucrats in the federal government. The fed has stepped way beyond where it is legally supposed to function, ie commerce clause anyone? Unelected, appointed persons are making law by regulation.

[Billy]

Reich ain't saying anything new. The streets in my area are not being paved properly, stores once there are now closed. More shabby looking people on the streets. Water flows down hill and money flows up. So many people now has this Gubment bad and business...well that's Capitalism for ya mindset. This kiss up and kick down from those mostly living from paycheck to paycheck. Further proof that ya can get a humanoid to believe anything.