THIS IS DEMOCRACY?

American politicians are fond of lecturing other world politicians about how the USA is a wonderful model of democracy in action. A recent study on the wealth of U.S. Congress would seem to suggest that they have a wonderful model of "government of the people by the people- " by the rich people that is" Apparently, times aren't so tough all over. According to a new study compiled by the Centre for Responsive Politics, 237 members of the U.S. Congress, or 44 percent, are millionaires. "What's easy to see is that the economic reality of our elected officials is not reflective of the general population," said Dave Levinthal, who helped compile the study's findings. Nationwide, only 1 percent of U.S. citizens qualify as millionaires."
(Sphere News, 6 November) RD