I have a friend who makes almost exactly the same amount of money every year as a US Senator.
Shockingly, they are not a millionaire.
They live well, of course, that salary is a decent wage; but they're not accumulating millions upon millions.
They only have the one house, in one state.
It's almost as if senators have sources of money beyond their salaries which are not available to someone who isn't a senator.
In a simpler time we'd call them bribes.
Too may Senators feel their sacrifice for the public good demands they take advantage of every economic opportunity to insure they can continue their efforts to help the people they represent. In a more perfect world, their efforts would lead to long terms in the crossbar hotel.
ReplyDeleteFrom the "do you remember?" file...
ReplyDeleteA few years ago, there was a brief media fuss over why Congress isn't subject to the same insider trading laws as everyone else. I think I remember Visa or one of the giant credit companies testifying about something and hoards of congresscritters calling to arrange buying stock.
So they passed a law prohibiting themselves from profiting from insider trading.
A few months later or the next year, once the media spotlight went away from them, they got rid of that new law, making their insider trading legal again.
As somebody said, I'm more concerned about a politician becoming a millionaire or billionaire than a billionaire becoming a politician.