Isn’t it rich?…

We’re the richest, most powerful, most technically-advanced country in the world. We are also the smartest people in the world. We’re Numero Uno. Everybody knows it. But our leaders still can’t (or won’t) find jobs for about 40 million of our unemployed citizens.

Doesn’t that seem a little strange? Doesn’t it seem odd that a country strong enough to destroy entire regions throughout the planet is just sitting back and watching millions of its citizens (men and women alike) trying to exist on piddling welfare programs? What gives anyway?

Here’s what gives. Too many of our lawmakers are raking in millions from the Military-Industrial Complex … the weapons manufacturers … so why should they care about the rest of us. Why rock the boat? “Let ’em eat cake!”, is their collective attitude.

Would you like to see how well-heeled our elected representatives are? Here’s what the asset sheets of the 50 richest members of Congress look like. And this is just the top 50. The numbers are far and away higher than what you’d expect our modestly salaried reps to be worth – $ 174,000 per annum is what they’re paid – but look how those modest salaries have accumulated! (They must know something about compound interest that the rest of us don’t know.)

1. Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) …. $ 294.21 Million
2. Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) …. $ 220.40 Million
3. Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) …. $ 193.07 Million
4. Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) …. $ 81.63 Million
5. Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) …. $ 76.30 Million
6. Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.) …. $ 65.91 Million
7. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) …. $ 55.07 Million
8. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) …. $ 52.93 Million
9. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) …. $ 45.39 Million
10. Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-Fla.) …. $ 44.21 Million
11. Rep. Jim Renacci (R-Ohio) …. $ 35.87 Million
12. Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) …. $ 35.20 Million
13. Rep. Dick Berg (R-N.D.) …. $ 21.60 Million
14. Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) ….$ 31.18 Million
15. Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-N.J.) …. $ 20.35 Million
16. Sen. James Risch (R-Idaho) …. $ 19.78 Million
17. Rep. Gary Miller (R-Calif.) ….$ 17.45 Million
18. Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) …. $ 17.00 Million
19. Rep. Kenny Marchant (R-Texas) …. $ 16.45 Million
20. Rep. Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.) ….$ 15.46 Million
21. Rep. Richard Hanna (R-N.Y.) …. $ 13.73 Million
22. Rep. Mike Kelly (R-Pa.) …. $ 11.90 Million
23. Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.) …. $ 11.60 Million
24. Rep. Scott Rigell (R-Va.) …. $ 10.69 Million
25. Rep. Diane Black (R-Tenn.) …. $ 10.63 Million
26. Rep. Tom Petri (R-Wis.) …. $ 10.60 Million
27. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn) …. $ 10.38 Million
28. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) …. $ 10.35 Million
29. Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) …. $ 10.28 Million
30. Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) …. $ 10.14 Million
31. Rep. Jim Densenbrenner (R-Wis.) …. $ 10.14 Million
32. Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) …. $ 9.88 Million
33. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) …. $ 9.84 Million
34. Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.) …. $ 9.43 Million
35. Rep. Nan Hayworth (R-N.Y.) …. $ 9.35 Million
36. Rep. Shelley Berkley (D-Nev.) …. $ 9.29 Million
37. Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wis.) …. $ 9.23 Million
38. Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas) …. $ 8.53 Million
39. Rep. Blake Farenthold (R-Texas) …. $ 8.51 Million
40. Rep. John Campbell (R-Calif.) …. $ 8.44 Million
41. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) …. $ 8.18 Million
42. Rep. Steve Pearce (R-N.M.) …. $ 8.03 Million
43. Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.) …. $ 7.94 Million
44. Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.) …. $ 7.93 Million
45. Rep. Bill Flores (R-Texas) …. $ 7.71 Million
46. Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) …. $ 7.41 Million
47. Sen. Kay Hagan (D-N.C.) …. $ 7.06 Million
48. Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Neb,) …. $ 6.56 Million
49. Sen. John Isakson (R-Ga.) …. $ 6.47 Million
50. Rep. Randy Neugebauer (R-Texas) …. $ 6.21 Million

The above information can be seen on Roll Call (www.rollcall.com) – the group that provides data annually on those lawmakers who seem to be much richer now than before they were canonized … or rather, elected.

We’ve sent faxes and e-mails to a number of those listed above wherein we provided complete information about our patented shipboard container storage and retrieval system, and we reminded them that FDR solved all the unemployment problems of the Great Depression when he set up the Emergency Shipbuilding Programs of the 1930s and early ’40s.

Those listed above may be too young to remember the Great Depression, but they’re certainly old enough – and schooled enough – to read about those difficult times. And being in the nation’s capital puts them right in the shadow of the Library of Congress. Everything we’ve written about those Great Depression years, including the steps that failed and the steps that succeeded, can be verified in that enormous library. There is no way those folks can plead ignorance.

Maybe the “Occupy Wall Street” movement will wake them up. Who knows? Maybe, just maybe, one of the above-listed will tell the president about FDR’s shipbuilding programs. Who knows?