An income gap exists between Congress and the general population, and the gap is getting bigger. The Center For Responsive Politics documents the increase of congressional wealth over the past few years. In effect, Americans are now being represented not by their peers; but by the 1 percent.
Yet as members of Congress have gotten richer, more Americans have fallen down the economic laddres. According to Pew Research Center, “in 2011, the middle-income tier included 51% of all adults, down from 61% in 1971.” Unless a substantial number of the formerly middle class joined congress, they are getting poorer.
Derek Thompson, a senior editor at The Atlantic, thinks this doesn’t matter. Writing late last year, he acknowledges that “Congress is a part of the 1%,” but he questions the significance and the necessity of “a shared economic experience between Americans and lawmakers.”
