• Furbag@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    45
    arrow-down
    2
    ·
    9 months ago

    I wouldn’t be so quick to point the finger at corruption.

    Most politicians are wealthy before they take office simply because running a political campaign to get elected in the first place takes quite a bit of funding for anything above local offices, so the career path naturally attracts individuals who are independently wealthy. That’s not to say that politicians do not make money off of their positions via insider trading, bribes, gifts, and so on, but it’s not the only reason you tend to see a lot of rich people in congress.

    I’d be more interested to know how much more wealthy they became over a number of years serving in congress. Stats like these don’t paint the whole picture.

      • PilferJynx@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        9 months ago

        It is. I also wonder what kind of wealth she accrued that isn’t above board. There’s too many ways for these well connected politicians to hide bribes and favors.

    • madcaesar@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      5
      ·
      9 months ago

      Even they question would be hard to answer because when you are rich, making money is almost inevitable, corruption or not.

      When you start with 50 million you’ll have to fight HARD not to have 51 million 12 months later.