Tuesday
Mar232010
Democrats & Their Personal Finances
Tuesday, March 23, 2010 at 3:30PM (FLP Opinion by JAR) - Members of Congress are all required to file personal financial disclosures annually. These disclosures can often be a real treasure trove of information and reveal disturbing details about our political officials. Following is some of that detail:
Anemic Charitable Giving – Strong leadership requires leading by example. When politicians such as Barack Obama, Joe Biden or Al Gore preach to us about making sacrifices, it rings hollow when they don’t follow their own advice. In 1997 Al and Tipper Gore donated $353 to charitable causes from Adjusted Gross Income of $197,729. USA Today reported in 2008 that during the prior ten years Joe Biden donated an average of $369 per year to charitable causes. During the years 2000-2004 the Obama's donated an average of less than 1% of their income per year to charitable causes. Seems they like to give our money away more than their own.
Curiously High Net Worth – Charles Rangel has been a Congressman since 1971. He had to amend his 2007 financial disclosure to include previously undisclosed assets, bringing his disclosed assets to a total of up to $2.95M as reported in the Washington Daily News. His assets may be a result of disciplined saving and prudent investments, but then why hide them? His district includes Upper Manhattan, The Bronx, and Harlem. I pulled a sample ZIP code, 10029 in East Harlem, from realestate.aol.com and found that 2010 median home values are $576K and average rents are $1,313 per month. Makes you wonder how one can accumulate so much wealth on a salary that would not exactly be considered "high-income" in NYC.
People in Congress spend our money. We should pay attention to what they do with their own.
Reader Comments (4)
but conservatives are so mean and we don't relize all the sacrifices the liberals make for
our own well being.....Holy Cow Pundit, where do you think we would be without all
the sweet liberals to lead us....No more unicorns and rainbows...Utopian Societies,
remember sunshine and lollipops......
What a shock. They preach one thing and do another. They really do make me sick.
Just more proof of the hypocricy of the Left.
Go get 'em! Lying, cheating, anti-constitutional scumbags.