California Rep. Darrell Issa, who is the richest member of Congress, said that America’s poor are the “envy of the world,” since the U.S. offers more opportunities than other countries.
While discussing income inequality with CNN Money, Issa compared the poor in the U.S. to those in poverty in India, claiming that there are more opportunities to gain wealth here. Therefore, America has made “our poor somewhat the envy of the world.”
"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,” Issa continued. “You also have less opportunity for people to rise from the have not to the have.”
Thanks to a car alarm business he founded, Issa is the richest member of Congress, with a personal wealth of $448.4 million in 2013.
Meanwhile, as ABC News Radio noted, a Census Bureau report from October showed that there are 48 million Americans living in poverty. In addition, research by the University of Ottawa found in 2013 that it is actually harder for Americans in poverty to move up to the middle class than in other advanced countries, CNN reported.
screenshot from CSPAN YouTube video