Quote (InsaneBobb @ Feb 20 2025 11:39am)

Wait, you just said 40 years of public service, now you're claiming 50 years of public service. Which is it?

If we assume that Bernie is paying his fair share of taxes, and has relatively normal expenditures when it comes to utilities, food, transportation, etc. then no, he probably wouldn't be a millionaire. He lives in an expensive area. When he started his life of "public service" the year was 1981. His pay as mayor was in the 50K range. His job for the House was also in the 50K range. His job in the senate was under 100K to start, though now it's 174K.

His overall earnings less expenses and the worth of his house SHOULD leave him with a very low worth, outside of the house itself. I DO believe that his "books" were all money laundering scams, and he doesn't pay much in taxes, he writes off everything he puts into his campaigns. Want to know why he was able to save virtually every penny?

He was part of the House when they passed housing, transportation, and living expense allotments for congresspeople. He was part of the Senate when they passed massive pay raises for all Senators and lesser raises for house members. He lived in a Mayoral estate when he was mayor. Sanders hasn't paid any of his own bills in over 40 years.

We have. :)

Quote (iLoveMyUsername @ Feb 19 2025 12:44pm)

That could be said bout anyone in politics. I can't recall a good politician in my whole existence.They always been the properties of corporations.

Quote (Plaguefear @ 19 Feb 2025 18:02)

Average us house price.
1981 68,900

So you are telling me a man earning enough to pay cash for a new home every 3 years had no opportunities to build wealth over his lifetime?

Quote (InsaneBobb @ Feb 20 2025 12:23pm)

What does the US House Price in 1981 have to do with Bernie? He bought his lakeside house for $600,000 after his campaign in 2016. He bought another house for $565,000, also lakefront, after his campaign in 2020.

Sanders owns THREE houses, not one, friend. And the idea that you're going to buy a house every three years is absurd. If you're making $50K a year, paying your taxes, and paying your own bills, approximately $40K of that money is gone. Especially when you have a kid to feed. Wait, you DID know he has a kid, right?

Now, you can make the argument that he's "not that rich" and that's fine. I would argue he shouldn't be rich at all. The median wage in the US is in the area of $60,000 a year, and Bernie is making nearly 3 times that AND receiving transportation, food, and housing benefits on top of it. Why?

When Bernie wants to rant and rave and claim to be representing the working man, yet he doesn't pay his own bills, and his three houses are worth a combined $2 million dollars, and he has another million to his portfolio on top of that, and his wife, who bankrupted the school she worked at is worth another two million, I start seeing issues. Show me the working people he claims to represent of the same age, who worked their career and retired, who are in his position. You can't.

Public service seems to be a damned good living. Too bad every penny of it is stolen from the working man at gunpoint. :)

Quote (Plaguefear @ 19 Feb 2025 18:31)

I think you are being obtuse on purpose, i own 11 houses and am currently looking to buy a 12th in brisbane, i have less purchasing power than bernie sanders has had for most of his career.
Bernie could have already collected his retirement benefits which should be 7 figures easy.
Bernie should be much richer, lets look at republicans:
Senator Ted Cruz has a net worth of $40 Million US Dollars. As a United States Senator, Cruz earns a $210000 salary annually.
https://prnt.sc/LhAyGvprsYAZ
Here is the top 10 richest congressmen, 7 republicans, all of them at MINIMUM worth 20x bernies entire net worth.

Rick Scott was pressured to resign as chief executive of Columbia/HCA in 1997. During his tenure as chief executive, the company defrauded Medicare, Medicaid, and other federal programs. The U.S. Department of Justice won 14 felony convictions against the company, which was fined $1.7 billion in what was at the time the largest healthcare fraud settlement in U.S. history. Following his departure from Columbia/HCA, Scott became a venture capitalist and pursued other business interests.

I find that tidbit to be hilarious.

Quote (El1te @ Feb 19 2025 03:19pm)

And why did people buy his book? Because he was a big name politician. That's called exploiting a public position for personal gain

Quote (InsaneBobb @ Feb 19 2025 07:55pm)

So your entire argument is that Bernie, who claims to represent the working man, should not only be far richer than the people he claims to represent, but he should be many times richer than he already is?

That's weird. Anyone who started out making $50K in 1981 and was still making the $50K range in 2000, and it wasn't until he himself passed himself a raise wouldn't have the money you're talking about. Again he had bills to pay. He couldn't dedicate more than 10-20% of his salary to a house even if he wanted to, and he wouldn't have anyway. He dropped it into his own campaigns for the tax write-offs.

I'm not interested in whataboutisms. Bernie Sanders claimed for decades the problem is the "Millionaires and billionaires!" and the moment he became a millionaire, he switched to "billionaires".

Personally, I think the problem is the government leeches like Bernie Sanders who talk a big game, but whose final solutions is to raise taxes, steal from the working man, and award himself raises so he can afford a new Beachfront Property after each of his election campaigns. :)

Quote (MildSambal @ 19 Feb 2025 19:55)

Being a millionaire meant something much different in the 90s than it does today.

Quote (InsaneBobb @ Feb 19 2025 11:21am)

I don't understand why a multi millionaire is lecturing us about billionaires out of one side of his mouth while accepting millions from Big Pharma with the other side of his mouth.

He's part of the 0.1%. He doesn't represent the working class, and he never has.