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n. pl. plu·toc·ra·cies
1. Government by the
wealthy.
2. A wealthy class
that controls a government.
3. A government or
state in which the wealthy rule.
It would take the combined wealth of more than 18 American
households to equal the value of a single federal lawmaker’s household. At a
time when income inequality is much debated, the representatives elected are
overwhelmingly affluent
Since 2007, the median net worth of Americans has dropped by
almost one third (28%). Meanwhile, members of Congress’ median worth rose a
staggering 43%. The former Speaker of the House and current House Minority
Leader grew her fortune hugely between 2012 and 2013, increasing it from $87.9
million to $100.8 million. Millionaires made up more than 50% of Congress in
2013, with nearly 271 of the 533 members claiming personal fortunes of at least
seven digits. The median net worth of members was $1,029,505 in 2013, up 2.5
percent over the year prior. Contrast that with the median net worth of your
average American household, which sits at a comparatively paltry $56,355.
The top five members of Congress are worth more than the GDP
of entire countries. At $200.5 million, Republican Dave Trott’s personal wealth
is greater than the GDP of both Peru and Iraq ($200,269m and $195,517m,
respectively). Democrat Jared Polis is worth $213.2 million, more than the GDP
of Algeria ($208,764m). Democrat John K. Delaney is worth $222.4m, greater than
the GDP of the Czech Republic ($208,796m). Another Democrat, Mark Warner, is
worth $254.2 million, which beats out the GDP of Greece ($241,721m). While
Republican Darryl Issa, the richest man in Congress, is worth an incredible
$448.4 million, which makes him worth more than the GDPs of Bolivia, Croatia,
Sri Lanka and Hong Kong put together ($30,601m; $57,869m; $67,203m; and
$274,027m, respectively). And that’s still $15.6 million less than he was
valued at last year.
In 2013, the sum of the median worth of the members of
Congress was about $4.3 billion. That’s roughly equivalent to the net worth of
76,000 American households. And that’s not including the holdings of
Republicans Steve Knight, who for some reason hasn’t filed a financial
disclosure statement, and Michael Grimm, who resigned in December after pleading
guilty to felony tax evasion charges in a federal court.
Most of the members of Congress are rich because they
arrived there that way. In fact, of this year’s freshman crop, half were
already millionaires when they took office.
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