3-2-2015: Billionaire Lawmakers Ensure the Rich Are Represented in China's Legislature(Term 3)

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/03/world/asia/in-chinas-legislature-the-rich-are-more-than-represented.html?ref=topics&_r=0

In a lot of countries legislatures are in the pockets of billionaires, but in China the legislatures are the billionares.  More than 1/7 of the richest people in China are delegates to Parliament or it's advisory body.  The net worth of this delegates combined is $463.8 billion.  More than the annual economic output of Austria. 18 of the Chinese delegates have a net worth greater than the combined wealth of all 535 member of the U.S. Congress, the nine members of the Supreme Court, and President Obama's Cabinet.  This shows the growing influence of the wealthy in China's politics.  "The Communist Party of China today is about doing whatever it takes to strengthen it's capacity to stay in power," Steve Tsang, a professor of contemporary Chinese studies said, "The lack of institutional check and balances allows politics and money to come together on a scale that is not imaginable in a capitalist country like the U.S.A. or a social-democratic country like the U.K."