Introducing a new wrinkle into the already fraught fiscal cliff showdown,
a consortium of billionaires today warned that if their taxes are raised
they will no longer have enough money to buy politicians.
The group, led by casino billionaire Sheldon Adelson, commissioned
a new study showing that the cost of an average politician has soared
exponentially over the past decade.
While the American family has seen increases in the cost of food,
health care and education, Mr. Adelson says, “those costs don’t compare
with the cost of buying a politician, which has gone through the roof.”
The casino billionaire points to his group’s study, which puts the cost
of purchasing an average House member at two million dollars
and an average senator at several times that.
“And let’s say you buy a Senator like [South Carolina Senator]
Jim DeMint and he decides to quit,” Mr. Adelson says. “Good luck trying
to get your money back.”
The Vegas magnate complains that the media has ignored billionaires’
essential role in giving jobs to politicians who would otherwise have
difficulty finding “honest work of any kind.”
“Billionaires are providing employment for agroup of seriously incompetent
and marginal people,” Mr. Adelson says. “You raise taxes on us, and who’s
going to create those jobs? I really don’t think people have thought this
through.”
Adding insult to injury for America’s billionaires, he says, “the simple dream
of someday owning a President is slipping out of reach.”
“People think a billion dollars buys you aPresident, but they’re wrong,” he says.
“It barely gets you a lemon like Mitt Romney.”
