More On Why Congress Doesn't Get It

On New Years' Day, the New York Times printed a very thought provoking article on "The Distorted View From Capitol Hill." It's worth reading for yourself, but I offer a brief summary:

The median net worth of members of congress approaches a million dollars and is growing.

The median net worth of all Americans is declining.

Members of congress consort with each other and with other millionaires. Not to mention their staffs.

Representatives can hire up to eighteen personal staffers who answer their beck and call.

Senators have anywhere from twenty-six to sixty personal staffers.

Most don't drive themselves anywhere and never use public transportation. At Washington National Airport, they are treated like royalty.

White residents of Washington DC are better off than those who live in the members' own districts.

Poverty in DC is overwhelmingly a part of the African American experience, not that of whites. As is crime.

Joblessness overwhelmingly affects DC blacks.

None of the perquisites of office would be a problem except the view from Capitol Hill distorts the reality of America.

In the real America, nearly twice as many white Americans are in poverty as black Americans.

In the real America, about the same number of white Americans are in prison as black Americans.

The Times article suggests that isolation in DC is one reason some members of Congress find it so easy to believe that the unemployed are all black folks taking a vacation at public expense; lazy, unambitious freeloaders.

This false picture is not only believed by the millionaires' club that Congress has become - it is seldom contradicted by those in the profession of journalism. If there is such a profession these days.

Who benefits from this false picture and the policies it engenders? Mostly the 1%. Actually the .1%. Those who acquired their wealth the old-fashioned way - inherited it.