The Richest Congressman Says That America's Poor Are The Envy Of The World

CNN- Darrell Issa, the richest man in Congress, said America has made "our poor somewhat the envy of the world."Asked by CNNMoney whether he feels personally responsible to address income inequality in the United States, the Republican Congressman from California said "absolutely." But he noted that America is the richest country on earth and implied that those in poverty here are better off than the poor in other nations. 

"If you go to India or you go to any number of other Third World countries, you have two problems: You have greater inequality of income and wealth. You also have less opportunity for people to rise from the have not to the have," said Issa. In the U.S., he noted there is better availability and access to quality public education. 

Issa's personal wealth is by far the greatest of any congress member. His net worth in 2013 was $448.4 million, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, and stems from a car alarm business he built.

At the risk of sounding ignorant, what exactly do Congressman do? It's just a bunch of stick in the mud rich, white dudes sitting around voting on stuff, right? I mean, if you listen to overwhelming majority of citizens they aren't even making the right decisions anyway. This dude is worth $450 million? Where do I sign up? You guys have any applications? If all it requires is a rich history of being wrong then literally all my peers can vouch for my resume. 

Seriously though, I genuinely think I could be a Congressman. Listen to this interview. I think I am just as well versed in the art of bullshit as this guy. Here is my personal transcription of this interview...

Interviewer: You have a lot of money? Do you ever feel like you should give some to poor people?

Darrell: Absolutely. Except not really at all. Being poor in America is awesome compared to being poor anywhere else.

Interviewer: Well we don't want to compare ourselves to 3rd world countries...

Darrell: Yes. Yes we do. How else do you expect me to win this interview? Blah, blah, blah, global economy. Blah, blah, blah car industry. Blah, blah, blah cost of labor.


I love it. Well, I hate this guy, but I love the move. Wealth is all relative.  You can't put a dollar amount on rich. No matter how bad your life is, it could always be worse. Just completely took the attention off his insanely high personal worth. Let's be real, 90% of the people that watched this video heard him say "absolutely", and then they tuned out and started doing something else. That's what society does, we are just a bunch of 4 limbed, fully functioning goldfish. This guy basically said that he feels personally responsible for fixing the income gap, but he's not going to do shit to fix the income gap. I see his point. There's a lot of things that I feel like I should do that I don't do. If I don't feel like giving CVS another dollar to cure cancer then why should he cut ties with any of 450 million dollars? I was a little skeptical when he was talking about the poor actually being rich, but he really brought me around with that last part that I didn't really follow about the automobile industry. Now I am sold. When poor Americans start sending money to poor people in India maybe then Darrell will sprinkle a few bucks down the food chain. Until then it seems like this balance of power is working out quite well for everyone, at least that's what it looks like from Mr. Issa's ivory tower. Poor in America. The most envious position in all the land.