Wealth of members of Congress TRIPLED in 25 years - while average U.S. family suffered a DROP in their worth

From the Daily Mail Online.com - By David Richards - The wealth gap between those governing the U.S. and the people they represent has dramatically widened, research shows. Against a backdrop of a vast budget deficit and fears of the fragility of the economy, analysis by the Washington Post shows that the median net worth of a member of Congress has nearly tripled over 25 years while the income of an average U.S. family has actually fallen. It calculated that their median net worth, between 1984 and 2009 and excluding home equity, rose from $280,000 to $725,000. Over those same 25 years the wealth of the average U.S. family slipped from $20,500 from $20,600, a University of Michigan study shows. In 1984, one in five House members had zero or negative net worth and by 2009 that number had dropped to one in 12. 1984 was chosen as the starting point for the analysis because it is the earliest year in which consistent wealth statistics are available, Read more

Wealth of members of Congress TRIPLED in 25 years - while average U.S. family suffered a DROP in their worth