By Rob Hotakainen | McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON — Times are tough, but don’t worry about most members of Congress making ends meet.

Their collective wealth grew by 13 percent last year, leaving them in better shape than most Americans to make it through an economic downturn, according to a new analysis of personal financial reports.

Overall, nearly two of every three senators are millionaires. That includes presidential candidates Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill. In the House, 39 percent of all members belong to the exclusive club.

Only 1 percent of all Americans are considered millionaires.

“With a median net worth of $746,000, most members of Congress have a comfortable financial cushion to ride out any recession,” said Sheila Krumholz, executive director of the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics, which conducted the study.

The 535 members of Congress, who earn average annual salaries of $169,000 and receive cost-of-living pay increases, had a total net worth of $3.7 billion last year. Although some are likely to take a hit from Wall Street’s woes, their average net worth soared by 61 percent from 2004 to 2007.

Link to article.

Commentary – Its unreal to me that the American People could care less that their elected representatives are practically stealing from tax payers as this economy continues to unravel. Why should we guarantee ANY pension? 95% of us do not have a defined benefit plan, but all 535 members of Congress do!!! Every voter is responsible for allowing their government to continue to act in this manner.

Meltdown Retirement Blow Is Softer for Lawmakers

by Erica Werner of AP

Inside Washington: Lawmakers’ retirement plans riding out the storm better than others

Along with the rest of America, Rep. George Miller has watched the value of his retirement investments plummet in recent weeks.

“I’ve lost 30 percent like everybody else. This hits home with the Miller family, too,” the California Democrat said in a recent interview.

But the blow is softer for members of Congress than for most. Although lawmakers have lost value in their thrift savings plans the government’s version of a 401(k) they are also offered a defined-benefit pension plan backed by the U.S. Treasury and largely insulated from Wall Street fluctuations.

Market meltdown or no, if Miller, 63, were to retire at the end of this year he’d take with him an annual pension of about $122,000, according to the National Taxpayers Union, a nonprofit advocacy group in Arlington, Va. On top of that he could tap whatever remains in his 401(k)-like savings plan.

“The government plans are certainly very rich even if you compare them to the pension plans in corporate America,” said Robyn Credico, national director of defined contribution consulting at Watson Wyatt, an employee benefits consulting firm.

“I certainly believe it affects policy,” Credico said, suggesting that members of Congress don’t experience the harsher reality of ordinary workers’ retirement plans. “If you’re not impacted yourself it’s very easy to make different rules.”

That risk was underscored Wednesday at Miller’s hearing in San Francisco, where he announced that the federal agency charged with backstopping pension benefits for 44 million Americans has lost at least $3 billion in stock investments during the last fiscal year on assets of $68 billion, and invested a significant portion of its funds in mortgage-backed securities. The agency, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., insures approximately 30,000 defined benefit pension plans. It does not insure 401(k) plans.

LINK to full article.

Sweet poetic justice! But wait, this might explain why they want the government to bail them out. It’s pretty sickening.

Sept. 19 (Bloomberg)—The market storm that brought down Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., American International Group Inc. and other pillars of U.S. finance may have also blown holes in the portfolios of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senator John Kerry and more than 50 other members of Congress.

Pelosi, in her most recent financial disclosure form, reported that her husband owned between $250,000 and $500,000 of stock in AIG, which ceded majority control to the U.S. government this week in exchange for $85 billion of loans.

Kerry, the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee, disclosed that his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, had more than $2 million of AIG stock at the end of 2007, when shares were worth $58.30. AIG has fallen 85 percent this week to close yesterday at $2.69. The lawmakers’ aides didn’t respond to calls seeking comment.

LINK to full article.

From the Washington Times
By Bill Gertz

Part One Link

“The inspector general of the Government Printing Office today said his office is conducting an “end-to-end” review of the agency’s production of electronic passports.”

“The Washington Times reported that the GPO had contracted with two European companies to produce computer chips with a wire antenna assembled at a plant in Thailand. The company in Thailand, Smartrac, charged in a court filing in Netherlands last year that its technology was stolen by China.”

GPO profits go to bonuses and trips
Part 2 Link

“When the government’s main printing agency booked $100 million in unexpected profit it went on a spending spree: large bonuses to top managers, trips to Paris and Las Vegas, and an official photo of the boss that cost $10,000.”

“Investigators say that at least 25 GPO officials received bonuses of between $2,000 and $12,920 that totaled $181,593. The bonuses were paid for fiscal 2005 and fiscal 2006, but have not yet been paid for 2007, investigators said.”

“The Washington Times’ investigation disclosed that the security of the blank-passport production involves computer chips purchased in Europe and then shipped to Thailand for outfitting with a wire antenna that transmits personal data to an electronic scanner at U.S. border entry points. Security specialists said the use of foreign chips and assembly abroad makes the blank passports, a key travel document, vulnerable to theft or counterfeiting.”

“Additionally, records obtained by congressional investigators show unusual travel by senior GPO officials to conferences and other events in such places as Las Vegas; Atlantic City, N.J.; London; Paris; Hamburg, Germany; and Tokyo, among other locations. Mr. Brink, the assistant public printer for Security and Intelligence Documents, for example, traveled to Paris in June 2006 for an electronic-passport forum that cost more than $5,000. He also traveled to London in May 2006 for a trip that cost $3,800.”

And our President, pretending that national security is so vital we need to send 4000 troops to die for a country which does not want, or appreciate, freedom. This same President allows open borders and US passports to be manufactured in a foreign country with no ovesight. What a joke.