I wonder if anyone else is asking this question: How does one serve for 30+ years as a United States Senator, including at least 2 decades with a six-figure income, and only have $150,000 net worth to show for it? That's Joe Biden, Obama's choice for Veep should he win the presidency.
Perhaps I'm being too petty in my judgements here. Perhaps there's a perfectly good explanation for why Biden appears to be so lousy at personal finance. After all, with the Senate's generous pension and health care plans, maybe there's no need to save for the future like the vast majority of Americans. Maybe he can afford to throw the budget out the window and just redirect all that money towards his club memberships, school for his kids, the mortgage on his family compound (if there is one), and his nice cars.
Now I sound bitter and jealous...not the case at all. I hope that I, too, have the disposable income one day to be able to support such a lifestyle. But that comes after my primary responsibilities, the first of which is delaying gratification for the future, so that I have a sound future. That's how most Americans should approach it as well. If Biden cannot lead by example here, does that mean he's out of touch with the rest of us? Perhaps his fiscal habits are just a microcosm of the government's own...spend all that you have without regard for the obligations of the future.
Monday, September 8, 2008
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2 comments:
Maybe he's a step ahead of you and has his wealth tucked away somewhere outside of the view of self-Right-eous wingnuts (that's "nebby" for you Pittsburghers). He represents Delaware, for crying out loud. If they don't know how to finagle finances no one does...
Thanks for the comment! Not sure why self-Right-eous wingnuts would care about Biden's wealth. It seems to me that it's the Left that is preoccupied with how wealthy the out-of-touch 'publicans are.
Again, I don't really care if Biden has $1 or $100 million in net worth. I just wonder why it's so low? If anyone's finances would be subjected to unfair scrutiny, I would think it would be the Clintons, yet they have their tens of millions of assets out in the open for all to see. If Biden does have enormous wealth, why would he hide it?
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