One of the clumsy arguments that the McCain camp tried to make today in hopes of slowing down the media freight train over not knowing how many homes he and his wife, Cindy, own was that Barack Obama (D) is also a rich guy who lives in a mansion himself, just like McCain. I believe the term they used was "a frickin' mansion."
Well, there's just one problem with that argument. These guys aren't even in the same class.
Earlier this year, the nonpartisan Sunlight Foundation did an analysis of the net worth of each of the 535 members of Congress based on their personal financial disclosure.
Guess which one is worth about $36 million and which one is worth $799,000?
According to my trusty calculator, that means McCain's net worth is more than 45 times greater than Obama's.
So much for that argument...
Mark Nickolas is the Managing Editor of Political Base, and this story was from his original post, "Official Net Worth: McCain $36.4 Million, Obama $799,000"
Follow Mark Nickolas on Twitter: www.twitter.com/mnickolas
Whats wrong with eating a leafy green that tastes good? Are the Republicans saying that their lower middle class base only eats iceberg lettuce?
Arugula is more 'elitist' than wearing $520 shoes? I don't think so my friends.
Obama is worth $799,000, his house in Chicago is worth about $1.6 million so his house cost about twice his net worth.
So why isn't anybody criticizing Obama for living beyond his means?
I tell you, this type of approach won't work with most of us.
What's wrong with rich?
If having money disqualified one from being president, we wouldn't have had FDR or JFK but we would have had Richard Nixon.
(h/t Salon.com and Money magazine who provide the net worth calculations)
Candidate
Net Worth
Mitt and Ann Romney $202 million
John and Elizabeth Edwards $54.7 million
Rudy Giuliani $52.2 million
John and Cindy McCain $40.4 million
Hillary and Bill Clinton $34.9 million
4/4/08 Update: The Clintons released their tax returns showing that they had earned $109 million since they left the White House.
Fred Thompson $8.1 million
Barack and Michelle Obama $1.3 million
Year: 20072006120052004
Senate, House and Executive branch rules require the disclosure of items belonging to the filer’s spouse and/or dependent children. When present, those items are displayed on this page and are included in all calculations throughout this section.
Full report
View All Years Net Worth: From $27,817,187 to $45,045,011
Ranks 8th among all members
of the Senate
Assets: 139 totaling $33,632,190 to $49,435,021
Liabilities: 11 totaling $4,390,010 to $5,815,003
Transactions: 98 totaling $14,262,129 to $22,805,008
Agreements: 3
Compensation: 0
Income: 3 totaling $136,886
Positions Held: 8
Travel: 0
Gifts: 2 totaling $8,850
Honoraria: 1 totaling $16,500
If you compare the list of "transactions" to the total Net worth, not only is the chunk of wealth Cindy McCain's but McCain himself comes across as a prudent/smart investor!!!
Home/RE $ 1,900,000
Net Worth $ 1,300,000
RE/NW 146.2%
John Sidney McCain III
Home/RE $ 4,900,000
Net Worth $40,400,000
RE/NW 12.1%
One of the better indicators of a man’s view of life is how he invests his money, an indication of what he feels is important and how he wants to be viewed in the community in which he lives.
Noting the values above taken from CNN Money.com, who is the more astute with his real estate investments? Who is topsy-turvy to his personal net worth—upside down with liabilities?
Service to country has often been taken as a path to wealth. That’s nothing new. Presidents and Vice Presidents of late have entered office, certainly not as paupers, to springboard to plateaus of wealth that the average citizen can only imagine.
Sadly, the originators’ vision of citizen statesmen is long since gone but the image of one trying to serve versus one self-aggrandizing is in the math.
To compare the ratio of the value of his home to his net worth to that of John McCain, a man 25 years his senior is ludicrous. Unless there is some national equivalent of marrying up, I'm not sure what financial skills McCain would bring to the job.
The REPUBLICANS brought the debt down to
10 000 000 000 000 000 000 dollars
Mc CAIN is a republican
Do the link guyz!!!!!!!!!!!!
They did a heck of job bringing the Debt Down to 10 Trillion dollars from that Massive 5 Trillion dollars it was 8 years ago