Politics and the One Percent

This graphic, courtesy of William Domhoff, Sociology Department, UC-Santa Cruz, was voted as the chart of the year vote at the Daily Dish.

Domhof’s chart has been circulating around the internet, where the consensus seems to be that it’s a problem that our elected representatives are so disproportionately wealthy. I was surprised for another reason.

I would have expected more Congressmen to be in the top one percent. Instead, more than half of the Senators and US Congressmen aren’t amongst the wealthiest 1.4 million Americans. If you think about it, these people are usually accomplished, and well-educated individuals, entrusted with a prized position in the community. They’re all probably amongst the ten thousand most powerful people in the country

I don’t know if I should be pleased, worried about the incentive structure in the country when people who should all be in the top one percent in terms of raw talent are being paid accordingly, or suspicious.