US Congressmen are in no way representative of the people
Rep. John Fleming (R-LA) appeared on MSNBC to attack President Obama’s new deficit reduction plan, which includes some tax increases on the wealthy.
The host of the show asked, “If you have to pay more in taxes, you would get rid of some of [your] employees?”
Fleming responded by saying that while his businesses made $6.3 million last year, after you “pay 500 employees, you pay rent, you pay equipment, and food,” his profits “a mere fraction of that” — “by the time I feed my family, I have maybe $400,000 left over.”
“$400,000 left over.” The average household income in the U.S. in 2010 was just under $50,000 — down 2.3 percent from 2009 and lower than it was in 1997.
And how hard does the congressman work to make the equivalent of eight median household incomes? Fleming told the Wall Street Journal that “he spends very little time on day-to-day management, though he weighs in on broad strategy decisions.” “I monitor the reports. I’m certainly in communication with the managers,” he told the paper.
[Excerpts of article by Alex Seitz-Wald]
