Taxes - The Price We Pay For Civilization.

by: lfurman

Tue Aug 09, 2011 at 10:55:22 PM EDT

There's a Tea Party / Republican / Faux News talking point that all taxes are waste, that the government is incompetent, and all politicians are corrupt. If all politicians are corrupt, and you're a politician, aren't you saying "I'm Corrupt?" But beyond that ...

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Not so fast

by: Thurman Hart

Sun Feb 07, 2010 at 02:01:32 PM EST

A foible of our humanity is that we often look at something and see exactly what we want to see instead of what's there. I remember a psychological study I was shown in my undergrad years that asked people to look at a photograph of a car wreck and then answer some questions. If asked if a headlight were broken, 50% of the people said no. Which means they were probably guessing. If asked if they noticed that the headlight on the blue car was broken, upwards of 80% would say yes - regardless of whether the blue car had a broken headlight, or even if there was a blue car in the photo.

This highlights the problem of bias in social sciences. But it should also serve as a warning for anyone who attempts to use an academic study for political purposes. If you want the long version of this post, jump over to GSP. If you just want the short version, click on through to the other side.

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Money and Power in Congress

by: Jason Springer

Wed Dec 02, 2009 at 12:45:00 PM EST

It's all a tale of money and power. Roll call is out with a new tally of the wealthiest and most senior members of the Congress. Here's what they had to say about their compilation of data:

The table below lists the minimum value of the assets and liabilities of Members of the House of Representatives as reported on their 2009 financial disclosure forms (covering calendar year 2008). Assets include stocks, bank accounts, rental properties and other income-producing holdings; liabilities are most frequently mortgages and other bank loans. Assets and liabilites are reported in broad ranges; this table uses the minimum of all reported ranges and subtracts liabilities from assets to produce a minimum net worth. See story for details.
Seniority is each Member's ranking in the House, as reported by the Clerk of the House.

The total wealth of all house members exceeds $1 billion. Our most senior member in the House is actually Congressman Chris Smith who comes in at 24. Congressman Frelinghuysen is our wealthiest official and is actually ranked 14th in the entire Congress at over $18 million net worth. And how does that compare to the rest of the delegation:

Frelinghuysen, who belongs to a political dynasty that dates back more than two centuries, has nine times the minimum net worth of the next richest member from New Jersey, Steve Rothman (D-Englewood).
Rothman has a minimum net worth of $2.1 million, followed by Bill Pascrell (D-Parterson) with $1.85 million, Leonard Lance (R-Clinton) with $1.59 million, Rush Holt (D-Princeton) with $899,000, John Adler (D-Cherry Hill) with $702,000, Donald Payne (D-Newark) with $346,000, Frank LoBiondo (R-Vineland) at $270,000, Chris Smith (R-Hamilton) with $113,000, Albio Sires (D-West New York) with $87,000, Frank Pallone (D-Long Branch) with $88,000, Scott Garrett (R-Wantage) with $80,000 and Rob Andrews (D-Haddon Heights) with $31,000.

Here are the complete New Jersey numbers: (The Assets, Liabilities and Minimum Net Worth are in $ thousands )

Last

Seniority

Assets

Liabilities

Minimum Net Worth

Lance 403 1,593 0 1,595

Pallone 51 113 25 88

Holt 191 1,499 600 899

Pascrell 166 1,858 0 1,858

LoBiondo 131 370 100 270

Andrews 65 46 15 31

Payne 57 461 115 346

Rothman 169 2,099 0 2,099

Adler 377 712 10 702

Garrett 259 80 0 80

Smith 24 113 0 113

Sires 319 97 0 97

Frelinghuysen 124 18,153 0 18,153