Tag Archives: economics

Politicians are Rich

I think the story about John McCain not knowing how many houses he owns is hilarious. They’re even passing out buttons at the DNC: “Ask me how many houses I own.”

As funny as it is that you can claim to connect with the average American when you don’t even know how many houses you own, just about every national politician would be in that camp. Starting salary for a member of Congress is $169,300. I don’t know about you, but that’s a lot more than I make. By way of comparison, 80% of U.S. households make less than $100,000 per year (and that’s households, not individual salaries). I think it’s fair to say that few members of Congress can claim they know what it’s like to be an average American today.

That’s true for John McCain and it’s true for Barack Obama. I’m not saying they shouldn’t make that much money, but it should be remembered when politicians claim they understand tough economic times. It’s a little ironic when we accuse our congress members of being elitist when that’s exactly what they are (and as Jon Stewart says, you shouldn’t be allowed to run for president if you don’t think you’ll do better than the rest of us).