Ask a rich man

JeeYeon Park, CNBC:

According to the latest Ipsos Mendelsohn Affluent Survey, 47 percent of participants said the economy is their primary concern, up 5 percent from last month. In addition, 85 percent of those who make over $100,000 a year say the economy is still in a recession. Bob Shullman, president of Ipsos Mendelsohn, shared his insights on the US-based survey.

“The affluent are continuing to be concerned about the economy—in particular, unemployment and the lack of jobs—and they are very concerned about the increasing debt issues,” Shullman told CNBC.

It’s important to separate the very wealthy– centimillionaires and up– from the merely wealthy. There are a lot of wealthy people who actually worry about high unemployment. Unfortunately, they still support the Republicans. The centimillionaires and up… well, supposedly George Soros isn’t a right winger.

Tammany on the Potomac

(Via FT Alphaville, law professor Stephen Bainbridge explains why it’s legal for the Congress to trade on inside information, which they do while they’re supposed to be working for you: WHY DO CONGRESSMAN OUTPERFORM THE MARKET BY 12%? To some extent, campaign contributions are just icing on Congress’ lard cake. All a CEO needs to do to bribe a Congressman is to privately tell him what’s going on in the company. Even a broad smile and a wink is enough.

This reminds me of George Washington Plunkett, a Tammany politician, who famously said:

EVERYBODY is talkin’ these days about Tammany men growin’ rich on graft, but nobody thinks of drawin’ the distinction between honest graft and dishonest graft. There’s all the difference in the world between the two. Yes, many of our men have grown rich in politics. I have myself. I’ve made a big fortune out of the game, and I’m gettin’ richer every day, but I’ve not gone in for dishonest graft – blackmailin’ gamblers, saloonkeepers, disorderly people, etc. – and neither has any of the men who have made big fortunes in politics.

There’s an honest graft, and I’m an example of how it works. I might sum up the whole thing by sayin’: “I seen my opportunities and I took ’em.”

The Congress’ honest graft is corrupt. No reform of Congress will be complete until they are forced to put their holdings into blind trusts for the duration.