Everything about multi-millionaire congressman Denny Rehberg (R-MT) pleading that he and his wife “are struggling like everyone else” because he’s “land rich and cash poor” is ridiculous.
Everything to the extent that I would go further than Steve Benen:
The notion of being “land rich and cash poor” — or in some areas, “house rich and cash poor” — is legit. A family may have wealth from real estate, but not a lot of money actually sitting in the bank. I get that.
But Rehberg’s case makes the argument hard to swallow. According to his own financial disclosure forms, the Republican congressman enjoys a net worth in upwards of $56 million. Out of 535 members of Congress, Rehberg is richer than more than 95% of his Capitol Hill colleagues.
I think accepting this kind of principle into our public discourse is a mistake. If you have $2 million in cash in the bank, that makes you rich because with $2 million you can buy $2 million worth of goods and services. If instead of $2 million in cash in the bank you have $2 million worth of Treasury bonds, that makes you rich because you can exchange it for $2 million in cash with which you can buy $2 million worth of goods and services. Or if you have $2 million worth of Apple stock, that makes you rich because you can exchange it for $2 million in cash with which you can buy $2 million worth of goods and services. And by the exact same token, if you own $2 million worth of land, that makes you rich because you can exchange it for $2 million in cash with which you can buy $2 million worth of goods and services.
Since people with progressive political views often live in parts of the country where land is very expensive, I think they sometimes get unduly sympathetic to the view that land wealth somehow doesn’t count. But I promise you that it does! Being “house rich and cash poor” is a way of being, well, rich since unlike an actual poor person you are the owner of a valuable asset that you can exchange for money. That’s what being rich is. Bill Gates doesn’t have giant rolls of Benjamins in his closet, he owns billions of dollars worth of assets. Look up some average net worth charts.
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