No. Paul Ryan's Experience Is Not Like That of the Average American in Any Dimension. Why Would You Ask?
Frank Pasquale writes:
Balkinization: Fractal Inequality and Politics: According to the Fed, the the net worth of the typical American household was $77,300 in 2010. The new vice presidential candidate, Paul Ryan, had a net worth of $3,207,000 in 2010….
Members of congress get paid $174,000/year. Ryan has been a member of Congress for 14 years--since he was 28. Ryan's wife since 2000, Janna Little, is a tax lawyer, a graduate of GWU Law School. In 2010, 56.1% of graduating GWULS students were employed as of graduation.
Ryan and Little own a "six-bedroom, seven-bathroom, 2.5 story, brick home built in the Georgian revival style in the Courthouse Hill historic district" of Janesville, WI.
He hasn't written any books. As I understand it, Janna Ryan hasn't been a tax lobbyist-lawyer since they married in 2000. Thus some of their $3.2 million is his parents' and other relatives' money, and most of the $3.2 million is her parents' money. They haven't been saving--you can't if you are maintaining an upper-middle class lifestyle and maintaining households in both Wisconsin and DC. And asset returns have been putrid since 2000...
