Kudos to CBS News!

I am serious as a heart attack. This is a superb bit of reporting:





Ow! It couldn't have happened to a nicer guy.

I'm always good for a segue, this made me think of Arnold Kling's awesome piece on Inequality and Excess (of political power).

Can you name the members of the County Council in Montgomery County, Maryland? I can't name very many of them, and I live there. Still, getting elected to the County Council in Montgomery County, which is pretty far down the ladder in terms of political power in the United States, enables you to control more annual spending than the wealth of Donald Trump or Steven Jobs.

At the Federal level, the Budget is $3 trillion. If you divide that by 535 (the number of Senators and Congressmen), then on average each legislator controls over $5 billion in spending per year. That is more than even the world's richest person could spend annually.

Kling starts with the Clinton's $109 Million income between 2000-2007. This generates a lot of ink, but the CBS story -- and would I ever doubt a CBS story? -- says Rep. Murtha brought $159.1M to PA-13 in earmarks in one year.

Those Clinton speeches start to look like good value. Hat-tip: Greyhawk via Insty

Media and Blogging Posted by jk at April 7, 2008 7:28 PM