'it's not a theory'

[Danzig]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45793299/from/RSS/

as the country became poorer, congress becomes richer...




'within the halls of Congress, where the median net worth is $913,000 and climbing, he is not. He is a rank-and-file millionaire. But compared with the country at large, where the median net worth is $100,000 and has dropped significantly since 2004, he and most of his fellow lawmakers are true aristocrats.'


and even more telling:

While the median net worth of members of Congress jumped 15 percent from 2004 to 2010, the net worth of the richest 10 percent of Americans remained essentially flat. For all Americans, median net worth dropped 8 percent during that period, based on inflation-adjusted data from Moody’s Analytics.



this is where occupy should be concentrating!!! rich stayed flat, all americans dropped, but congress rose. now....now will people see that change is needed, that term limits must be imposed? that our modern aristocrats need to be dethroned?! it is absurd, that we as a whole pay, but congress, our 'rulers' see their income grow.

****ers

[Danzig]

Going back further, the median wealth of House members grew some two and a half times between 1984 and 2009 in inflation-adjusted dollars, while the wealth of the average American family has actually declined slightly in that same time period, according to data cited by The Washington Post in an article published Monday on its Web site.






'House members saw the stocks they owned outperform the market by 6 percent a year. Their research from several years ago found that senators did even better, at 12 percent above average. The researchers attributed the performance to a “significant information advantage” that lawmakers hold by virtue of their positions and the fact they are not bound by insider-trading law.'

[Honu]

Thanks for the 411.

[SOREHOOF]

I can't understand why Americans aren't Really, Really, P.O.'ed about the Govt. ripping off the taxpayers, pocketing the $$$, and blaming just about everything and everyone they can except themselves. They create Inflation to cover up their crime, and a Welfare State to hold power. Feeding on peoples fears of having to depend on themselves, or the horrific thought of someone else having to depend on theirs.

[somerfrost]

Originally Posted by SOREHOOF

I can't understand why Americans aren't Really, Really, P.O.'ed about the Govt. ripping off the taxpayers, pocketing the $$$, and blaming just about everything and everyone they can except themselves. They create Inflation to cover up their crime, and a Welfare State to hold power. Feeding on peoples fears of having to depend on themselves, or the horrific thought of someone else having to depend on theirs.

Absolutely true...but how does one fix it without causing even more suffering?

[Danzig]

Originally Posted by SOREHOOF

I can't understand why Americans aren't Really, Really, P.O.'ed about the Govt. ripping off the taxpayers, pocketing the $$$, and blaming just about everything and everyone they can except themselves. They create Inflation to cover up their crime, and a Welfare State to hold power. Feeding on peoples fears of having to depend on themselves, or the horrific thought of someone else having to depend on theirs.

i can't either. i expected more comments by now on this thread. hate to keep beating this drum, but we need term limits for all d.c. pols, not just the president. whether a good senator/rep or not, people should not be lifetime congressmen. they begin to feel a sense of entitlement, they become separated far too many ways from the people they are supposed to be there to represent. they lose focus, their reasons for going there to begin with. they really do begin to feel as though they are a modern aristocratic clique. beholden to no one, they are special, and absolutely feel they know what's best, us peasants don't. the rules in place, or not in place, that allow the money-making has to stop. congress shouldn't be able to pass laws and repeal regulations that ultimately help no one but the members of congress. it's an outrage.
again, this is the type of stuff ows and others should be focusing on. what caused the necessary bailouts for banks? for insurers? financial groups? who removed the checks in place? who ultimately is responsible? after all, bankers and the like only went rampant when the regulations were changed-and they weren't on a leash any more.

[Riot]

Originally Posted by Danzig

again, this is the type of stuff ows and others should be focusing on. what caused the necessary bailouts for banks? for insurers? financial groups? who removed the checks in place? who ultimately is responsible? after all, bankers and the like only went rampant when the regulations were changed-and they weren't on a leash any more.

Glad to see you join up with what Occupy is all about

http://occupywallst.org/

[SOREHOOF]

Originally Posted by somerfrost

Absolutely true...but how does one fix it without causing even more suffering?

First you have to get over the horrific thought of someone having to depend on themselves. There are safety nets out there that are meant to keep you from starving to death while you get back on your feet. It shouldn't become a lifelong dependency on the Govt. (Taxpayers) to keep you living the lifestyle you have become accustomed to. Especially if you have acquired that lifestyle through borrowing over your head. I have always been a staunch opponent of term limits but I have "flip flopped" on that stance. ( I have only flipped because to flop would be to go back to my original stance after taking up a new one). Danzig is right on. The Public Servants have become Public Masters answering to no one.

[Danzig]

fixing congress has nothing to do with welfare. not sure how changing congressional rules-and perhaps having some REAL ethics rules, would cause harm to people receiving benefits.

at any rate, i hope people will at least vote against every incumbent who's had multiple terms in the next election. we have power, we need to use it. people seem to have forgotten they don't have to sit idly by and watch things happen.

[Riot]

Fantastic news for Occupy goals, and the goals of those on this thread, from Montana today:

This is huge.

The Montana Supreme Court has just upheld the state's ban on corporate spending in state elections, a ruling that stands in stark opposition to Citizens United and overturns a lower court's ruling that had deemed Montana's century-old ban on election spending unconstitutional.

The immensity of this moment – and the potential reverberations this ruling could have – cannot be overstated, for Montana's highest court has provided a blueprint for how other states can contravene the Citizens United decision in state and local elections.

The Great Falls Tribune Reports: .......

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/1...!!?via=siderec

[Riot]

Originally Posted by Danzig

at any rate, i hope people will at least vote against every incumbent who's had multiple terms in the next election.

No thanks. Doing that in 2010 is exactly what gave us the 80-member House caucus of obstructionists that have never before held political office, refuse to compromise based upon "principle", made this the most inefficient and do-nothing House in history, lowered our credit rating by nearly causing us to default, and have done nothing but pass anti-abortion bills trying to implement big government takeover of our private lives, and remove our rights.

Congress is no place for amateurs.

I do agree with one thing: we have term limits now. It's called "voting".

Taking away the one thing that citizens have to control their representatives: the threat to remove them from office - makes no sense. As seen in Illinois, term limits do nothing in itself to control corruption.

We have an elected Congress that is mostly beholden to their corporate masters, not to the citizens. Term limits won't change that in the least. Removing the last and only method citizens control over their representatives? Getting money out of politics, reversing crazy decisions by activist conservative judges like Citizens' United, will. That's entirely what the Occupy movement is about. Making corporate ownership of our government a thing of the past, and returning our current plutocracy to a democracy.