The rich really are different; they never really know how much they're worth and they don't seem to lose much sleep over it. For instance, Ms. Nancy's assets
totaled as much as $86,371,990 or as little as $23,707,119, according to her financial disclosure statement for 2006, which is available for your reading pleasure at the link above and brought to you by opensecrets.org/.
It's possible she's lost a couple mill given the ongoing depression, but I doubt it. I'm sure her financial advisers got her out of the wrong things at the right times -- like converting dollars to Euros.
Her favorite industries to put her money in are finance, insurance and real estate. And they seem to like her right back; those three bribe dispensers are all among the top 20 industries she hits on for "donations."
As of March 3rd, they've responded by kicking in $319,882 for the 2007 - 2008 election cycle, tops among all sectors tracked by opensecrets.org/.
Intangible assets like leadership qualities, number of detectable vertebrae, strength of character, political acumen and a moral compass don't appear on the disclosure statement. But it's a good bet she's running serious deficits on all counts.
If Ms. Nancy's financial security doesn't warm your heart sufficiently, you'll also be happy to know that our representatives in both houses of congress seem to have enough socked away to make it through the Great Bush Depression without serious hardship. According to a
news release issued March 13 by the Center for Responsive Politics:
"...the personal finances of members of Congress suggest they will be able to weather the storm far better than most Americans, according to a new analysis of three years of lawmakers' personal financial reports..." by the Center.
The news release also reveals that "U.S. senators had a median net worth of approximately $1.7 million in 2006, the most recent year for which their financial data is available, and 58 percent of the Senate's members could be considered millionaires. In the House of Representatives, the median net worth was about $675,000, with 44 percent of members having net worths estimated to be at least $1 million. By contrast, only about 1 percent of all American adults had a net worth greater than $1 million around the same time."
I don't know about you, but I was having kind of a shitty day, worrying about money and bills and all that nagging stuff that seems to occupy more and more of my time and energy these days.
But when I saw that my elected representatives, for whom I have the highest regard, were likely going to make it through the tough times ahead without having to endure the misery that awaits the peasantry, I got a little flush of national pride just thinking how, after centuries wasted trying to live the false ideology of government by the people, we've finally got our priorities straight.
You've got to admire a nation that rewards its political masters with lifelong security for simply occupying a fancy leather chair for a couple of years. And it's "hurd wurk" speechifying at weird hours to an empty chamber and a lone C-Span camera because they needed to be on record supporting a resolution to designate the third Saturday in May as "National Mayonnaise Appreciation and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Readiness Day." Not to mention working 16 hour stretches on the phone to scrounge up enough money from their civic-minded corporate contributors to get re-elected.
And they've got the courage to make the ultimate sacrifice; no matter if they're Dems or Repubs, they'll be voting straight GOP party line because it's vital to national security to avoid pissing off the White House
In addition to not risking the fury of a snarling viper with a 9 percent approval rating, this is a tactic their advisers tell them is sure to get them re-elected because, at heart, people just can't get enough of the Bushies and all they've done for this nation and the world community.
Yup, it's a great, great country alright that has such people in it.
wp