Democratic Representative of San Francisco, Nancy Pelosi, claims assets of million, with her home and vineyard worth about million. Her investments include AT&T, Cisco Systems, Microsoft, Aloca, Apple, Dow Chemical and Motorola, among others. No millionaire can possibly represent the workingclass, the 80% of us who sell our labor for less than ,000 a year. Almost half of the US Congress are millionaires.

From: US: The millionaires’ Congress, By Tom Eley, 26 November 2010

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/nov2010/cong-n26.shtml

Pertinent paragraphs:

Eighty-two members of Congress are invested in General Electric, followed by Bank of America (63), Cisco Systems (61), Proctor & Gamble (61) and Microsoft (54), Exxon Mobil (46), Wells Fargo (45), Berkshire Hathaway (44), Apple (42), IBM (41), Johnson & Johnson (39), JPMorgan Chase (38), Coca-Cola (39), PepsiCo (36), Wal-Mart (28) and Goldman Sachs (27).

BP, the London-based oil giant whose profit-driven recklessness resulted in the greatest environmental disaster in US history, was invested in by 24 members of Congress, paced by John Kerry, who had BP assets estimated in value somewhere between 1,000 and 5,000.

Sixty-four members of congress had assets in Pfizer, the largest US pharmaceutical, and 80 reported significant transactions with the firm. The pharmaceuticals, insurance giants, and HMOs were well served by their Congressional investors in regard to the Obama administration’s health care “reform.” The measures passed will guarantee the profits of the major industry players for years to come, while relegating the vast majority of the population to a segregated, second-tier health care system.

According to an analysis of financial disclosures by the Center for Responsive Politics, just under half of the US Senators and Representatives, 261 of 535, were millionaires in 2009, compared to 1 percent of the population at large. Fifty-five of these Congressmen have a net worth of greater than million, and eight have fortunes estimated at over 0 million.

Median wealth for all members of Congress in 2009 was 1,510, up from 5,515 in 2008. In the “people’s House,” the median net worth was 5,010 in 2009, up from 5,503 in 2008, considerably below, however, the .38 million median net wealth for US Senators in 2009, which was up from .27 million in 2008.

The richest member of Congress in 2009 was Rep. Darrell Issa, a right-wing California Republican, whose net worth was estimated at 3.5 million for 2009, an increase of 21 percent in one year. He was followed by another representative from California, Jane Harman, the pro-war, pro-CIA Democrat, whose wealth increased by 19 percent to 3.4 million, and Democratic Senator and former presidential candidate John Kerry of Massachusetts, whose wealth—gained by marrying the widow-heiress of the Heinz Ketchup fortune—was estimated at 8.8 million, up 14.3 percent in one year.

Sen. Mark Warner (D-Virginia), Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colorado), Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wisconsin), Rep. Vernon Buchanan (R-Florida) and Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) were the other lawmakers whose wealth was estimated to be greater than 0 million in 2009.

There was no appreciable difference between the income levels of Democrats and Republicans.

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Only socialist and Green Party candidates can represent the workingclass. No worker has any business voting for any Democrat or Republican at any level of office.

Yes, baring a real fear* we can put into the pants of these blood suckers, they will continue to appease their handlers.



Why don't you people ever pull a popular ticket together like a Ralph Nader / Cynthia McKinney run?

Hell they make the Greens have to fight just in order to get on the ticket.

Selected primaries, control the voter's input and again, the Greens are shut out. This is all total Kabuki Theater.

First we need:

Open voting.

Open elections.

not obvious fraud engines.

*How about a national sit down and stop strike?

...for a few weeks we don't bank, don't buy controlled commodities like gas or food except from independent, non corporate sources. I know it will require preparation, but you must realize that this is a war. Unless you are totally deluded.

They just haven't brought in the heavy stuff yet. We must win now or they just might.

Why doesn't the Green Party advocate for a national strike or boycott? Huh?

...disgusted with front orgs.