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washington post uh... terrific story on congressman a running back in the thirty
seventies and eighties and one lane uh... basically the present-day
uh... they trace these two guys uh...
gary myers
who was a republican at the time uh... running in nineteen
uh... seventy-four then entered in congress in nineteen seventy five
and then uh... republican mike kelly from that same district
running in twenty ten
and compared the two and as to have a lovely first of all
uh... yeah minus the republic from now yesteryear
soul much more liberal
uh... than the republicans today that was in the folks of article but it seems
relief to the facts
argues in favor of raising the minimum wage she was in favor of unions
he's from a very blue collar counting use the democratic
until he won the sea are but again a republican did mean the same thing back
then
in fact he thought the top income tax bracket should be forty five percent
veto but the republican today they jump off a building
with fourteen five times that i can tell you that my god i've got it
revive is too high
so dot now of course miceli in favor of the paul ryan plan that would got
medicare
in favor of uh... it taxes being down twenty five percent for the top bracket
want to get rid of the inheritance tax wide
cuz my kelly's reg
and when gary myers right he was of great use an engineer at a local plant
he cared about the guys who were in our plan
but when you those are two anecdotal stories but we would have overall
numbers incomes even clear
from nineteen eighty four two thousand and that's the
period in which the numbers match just write before they were different uh...
measurements
uh... but since eighty-four this in the same measurement
for these two things that they looked at
uh... the median net worth of that member of the house
has more than double
so uh... eight use of the
uh... two hundred eighty thousand dollars which is
sulltana money and that's of course adjusted for inflation
now
it's seven hundred and twenty five thousand dollars
for member that's not average for the house
so that's a charity
can t figure out easily the average household is much less than that in fact
from nineteen eighty four two two thousand a nine the wealth of the median
american family has declined
from twenty thousand six hundred to twenty thousand
five hundred that's according to the panel study of income dynamics from the
university of mission
so while are
income has gone down
congress' incomes have gone
matically hot
now what
part of that is
related to what happens right you know in congress but
but actually they're paid
a has gone
down relatively in just a for inflation their pays to be higher use to be
two hundred fifteen thousand dollars outside in seventy four thousand dollars
but that is in the main issue
the main issue is what does it take to get elected
indicates that
held a lot more money
so only rich people can
if gary myers who's working on the planet
one of the run out that lab matted fountain packet evaluaci *** hang
around for office
waited in the mail is that i was a unique
back then they did core board signs that kids said
that the you know that look like they were running for high school president
or student body
president et cetera they would get people together in their kitchen they
always had a shot at right
today good luck in fact here's another great effect on the washington post
article
campaign cost for myers nineteen seventy four campaign were thirty three thousand
dollars
how quite now adjusted for inflation as a hundred forty six thousand dollars
that is only one tenth of the current average
so the average house race now costs
over one point four million dollars
annex ten times larger even adjusted for inflation
that used to be back in nineteen seventy four
so are you surprised that only rich people can run of course miceli finance
the third of his campaign with his own money from his car dealership
and i'm not saying yes how might that would make the money is not a banker
here in a car dealership you work hard that as they should okay
the issue is can an average american
run for office these null they can't
because they thought well enough i a one point four million dollars
as much as the day finance their own campaigns
bail that they go to a country club world our friends have money
do all of your friends at one point four million dollars lying around of course
not
so that once your chance of representatives very feel very little
so it's the discouraging what other huge problem with this
is that
than unrelated story there was a straight fact about
how members of congress
of what the higher proportion of daughters
were more lightly take liberal positions on women's issues
that was done in the two thousand six working paper for the national bureau of
economic research
uh... and that's also quote in the same western post article
and now while i tell you that
because people
earn based on their experiences they have a lot of daughters everything you
know i think they're about women's rights
if they're incredibly reg
they care about what
the inheritance tax like mcaleese an off white guys my money i'd like to
everybody in
we run a car dealership obvious to those aboard issued america inheritance tax
that affects like wiggle one percent of the population
back in the day
gary myers even though it was a republican thought the most important
issue
was a minimum wage because you work with the guys who were getting minimum wage
and so that everybody is this true ted you know issues with how much that they
were gonna get paid how they would get pot
these guys in congress can't relate to us
'cause they're not awesome fortunately
look at the disparity for the average house hold as of twenty thousand by one
dollars they've got seven and twenty five thousand dollars
that's more than thirty times average households
money
no wonder they don't relate to us no other they don't give a damn
no wonder they legislate base somewhere the money is because what they need the
money to get reelected
and number two hits because they're located so they don't even know what
you're going through
gee i wonder why there's a night by wall street moment i complains about are
government that's out of touch