Marco Rubio and Scott Walker aren't rich. This perhaps comes from not being born rich and then devoting most of their adult lives to public service. But it shocks liberals who seem to be saying "so if you're soooo good at government then why aren't you rich? Here is the NYT's latest shot over the Hoi polloi's bows.
For years, Senator Marco Rubio struggled under the weight of student debt, mortgages and an extra loan against the value of his home totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars. But in 2012, financial salvation seemed to have arrived: A publisher paid him $800,000 to write a book about growing up as the son of Cuban immigrants.
In speeches, Mr. Rubio, a Florida Republican, spoke of his prudent plan for using the cash to finally pay off his law school loans, expressing relief that he no longer owed “a lady named Sallie Mae,” as he once called the lender.
But at the same time, he splurged on an extravagant purchase: $80,000 for a luxury speedboat, state records show. At the time, Mr. Rubio confided to a friend that it was a potentially inadvisable outlay that he could not resist. The 24-foot boat, he said, fulfilled a dream.
I think most of us can relate to that. But how about that “luxury speedboat?” Rubio’s staff quickly pointed out that this isn’t a very apt description. Politico headlines: “Rubio’s ‘luxury speedboat’ is a fishing boat.”
But as politico reported: [W]hile Rubio did indeed spend $80,000 on a boat, the vessel a (rather unimpressive) offshore fishing boat.
Surely there are similarly successful non conservative politicians that have served faithfully without enriching themselves. Reid? No. Hastert? No, Clinton? Ha! Obama? Naw, McCaskill? She was caught dodging more taxes than a Rubio has seen in his life. Ditto for Al Sharpton. Umm help me out here....Joe Biden! Yes Joltin' Joe doesn't have any money. 'Course Joe Biden isn't sharp enough to slice melted butter so that may have something to do with his relative penury. Maybe he should have spent his time counterfeiting cash rather than speeches.
But in fairness to statists of every stripe: if you believe that government is the answer to every problem then surely it's the solution to your desire to be rich. And a government that regulates and oppresses everything is the perfect vehicle for that enrichment.
Unfortunately it leads to an utterly screwed country - one where the leading news journals are mightily suspicious of anyone who has long held political power without dipping down for a "taste". "Why they must be bloody fanatics!".
We are becoming so French.
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