Roll Call published a list of the 50 wealthiest Congressman/women. They included the methodology they used to calculate assets and liabilities. The richest member of Congress is, according to them, worth $294 million.
The study also compares the 2011 net worth to what they reported in 2010. It should not be surprising that most net worths increased and did more so than the stock market or real estate markets. One hypothesis might be that these people are investment geniuses in addition to their administrative and managerial talents. Another hypothesis might be that most of them are crooks using power and influence to earn returns that honest citizens cannot.
What would be interesting is to perform forensic audits on all Congresspeople. The audit would track their net worth from the time they entered politics until the current date. Each material transaction contributing to changes in their net worth would be reported. I would like to see how a politician enters office with a net worth of $50,000 and earns $130,000 for five years while maintaining two homes and ends up having a net worth of $5 million.
Why do we tolerate this plunder by our elected officials?
