Janet Yellen, vice chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve, right, speaks while Allan Sloan, senior editor of Fortune Magazine, listens at the Society of American Business Editors and Writers Spring Conference in Washington, D.C. on Apr. 4, 2013
Janet Yellen, one of the Fed’s leading candidates for chairman of the board, and her husband, Nobel Prize winning economist George Akerlof, have a portfolio of assets worth somewhere between $4.8 million and $13.2 million, according to the Wall Street Journal. The other leading candidate, former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, holds assets in the range of $7.9 million and $31.7 million, according to documents disclosed by the White House in 2009. In either case, it appears the current batch of candidates won’t have to worry about the bills anytime soon.
But the Fed’s fortunate few look like paupers compared with the biggest earners in Congress. Last week, The Hill published a list of the 50 wealthiest lawmakers after its reporters combed through their financial disclosure forms in 2012. Representative Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) tops the list with a whopping $355.4 million. Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) outranked all of the other Democrats with holdings of $88.5 million. The Hill notes that their calculations are “conservative” estimates of minimum net worth. No matter how they cut the numbers, it seems safe to say the elected representatives have entirely unrepresentative incomes.
MORE: Why Yellen is a Smarter Choice for Federal Reserve Chief Than Summers