Jeb Bush Made $29 Million After Leaving Office, Tax Returns Show

[seafan]

Bloomberg has the analysis:

Jeb Bush made $29 million in the first seven years after he left public office, dramatically increasing his wealth during a recession, a financial crisis and the Obama presidency he has criticized.

Bush’s tax returns, released Tuesday, show how the former Florida governor set up a successful consulting and speaking business and plowed the profits into an array of investments including offshore holdings and business ventures in the shipping and oil industries.

Bush now has a net worth of $19 million to $22 million, his presidential campaign said, which means his wealth is more than 14 times larger than when he left office in early 2007. While he was governor, his net worth declined.

“Thank God for term limits,” Bush quipped on Tuesday as he briefed a small group of reporters in a law office a block from the White House.

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Bush, the son and brother of former presidents, says he is running to close what he calls the opportunity gap between high-income Americans and everyone else. As other candidates emphasize their modest upbringings, Bush is trying to make his business experience an asset and prevent his wealth from becoming a political liability.

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Contracts with Lehman Brothers and Barclays and sitting on corporate boards served as cash cows for Jeb Bush. A few of them were Tenet Healthcare Corp., Rayonier Inc., Cormatrix, Swisher Hygiene, Empower Software Holdings and Geo Fossil Fuels LLC.

Bush and his campaign wouldn’t release a complete list of consulting clients, citing confidentiality agreements. The campaign did release the names of some consulting clients: Academic Partnerships, Clinical Medical Services, Planetary Resources and All-Med. None of the undisclosed clients are foreign, and Bush never lobbied, his campaign said.

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What proof of that do we have, Mr. Bush?


Tellingly, the article states that the Bushes gave 1.5 percent of their adjusted gross income to charity over a six year period from 2007 to 2013, while Romney gave over 29 percent in 2011, and Obama gave 14.8 percent in 2014.

“My experience in government (as a senior adviser to Barclays) allowed me to provide some insights,” Bush said. “It wasn’t the Barclays view. It was the Jeb view about how the world works. And it seemed to have been quite effective. I mean, the amount of time I spent traveling the world talking to their top clients was an indication that I did add value for the enterprise.”

Bush said his speaking fees rose over time and that he was typically paid $40,000 to $50,000 per event, and as much as $75,000 outside the U.S.

“Not many people can sustain it over the length that I did,” he said.

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What a tone deaf, imperialist and self-serving comment that is.



Here is just ONE example of how he used his position as Governor of Florida to pad his pockets and those of his friends. Just one.


As Florida Governor, Jeb Bush Bought Land From Timber Company That Later Paid Him $1 Million, International Business Times, June 19, 2015

Florida was buying wetlands. Seeking to conserve its fragile coastline, the state sought to set aside acreage in perpetuity, ensuring it would never be developed. But as then-Gov. Jeb Bush assessed a proposal to buy a choice parcel -- a 26,000-acre piece of swampland near Jacksonville -- he worried that the price was far higher than the land’s true worth.

“I’m concerned about the value of the property,” Bush told top state officials during a meeting in Tallahassee in March 2000.

This was a subject Bush knew something about, having previously earned his living in real estate. After expressing his reservations, however, Bush quickly assented to the purchase, calling the parcel “a jewel.” Then he cracked a prescient joke.

"Man,” the governor said, according to the minutes of the meeting, “I can’t wait to get back into the real-estate business and sell property to the state."

That wish would ultimately come true.

A year after the state bought the land, Bush approved a plan through which the state purchased logging rights on part of the property, paying $4.6 million to a publicly traded timber and real-estate company called Rayonier Inc. A state audit would later conclude that this price was likely inflated: Florida officials had relied on “questionable assumptions” that “may have led to misleading and overstated value conclusions.”

During Bush’s eight years in office, Rayonier would secure almost $100 million from the state of Florida in exchange for surrendering logging rights and property. In 2008, two years after Bush left office, Rayonier gave him a seat on its board of directors as it continued to sell property to Florida.

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As Bush now seeks the Republican Party's nomination for the U.S. presidency, he is presenting himself as an outsider who abhors the culture of lobbying and inside dealing that often shapes politics. But some advocates for greater government transparency point to the land deals Bush brokered with Rayonier followed by the hefty payday he secured for himself as evidence that he is a savvy exploiter of the very culture he now decries.

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The article states that the Bush campaign did not respond to requests for comment.

While Bush was on the board (of Rayonier), the company also raised objections to a Florida clean-water regulation proposed by the federal government. At the same time, Bush served on Rayonier’s audit committee, which helps oversee the company’s financial statements -- now the subject of a class-action lawsuit and an SEC subpoena amid claims that the firm misstated its earnings.

Government watchdogs say the former governor must explain how he came to land on the Rayonier board.

“The question that comes to mind is, ‘Is this some sort of payback for the land purchase and the tax breaks?’” said Greg LeRoy, executive director of Good Jobs First, an advocacy group that tracks government development deals nationwide. “The governor should be forthcoming about how this happened and whether there’s a quid pro quo.”

This is the face of obscene greed, of a man who has exploited his family name and connections his entire adult life. These outsized advantages of great privilege and wealth made possible by his father's connections and clout will never be realized by regular Americans. There is neither soul nor empathy in the eyes of this man. Only unbridled greed in the face of unparalleled disparity and inequality in America.


Oh, remember that "meeting" he just had with the pastors in South Carolina yesterday? Did he demonstrate genuine empathy for the tremendous suffering of the residents after the church massacre?

Bush spoke for about an hour at the DoubleTree Hilton on International Boulevard. Those who attended said afterward that Bush told them about his personal story and beliefs. He also took questions regarding his political stances.

Bush only lightly addressed the Emanuel AME Church mass shooting that killed nine black parishioners June 17.

Other than praying for the victims and their families and decrying the fact that the shooting took place, “that was not his focus,” said the Rev. John Scott of St. Paul’s Anglican Church in Summerville. “He just kind of told his story,” Scott said.

“He mentioned it, but it was not his focus,” said John Pharis, of City Church of Charleston.

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"When does the greed stop?" ---Senator Edward Kennedy, 2007

Jeb Bush Calls For The Elimination Of The Federal Minimum Wage, March 17, 2015

(bold type added)

[Skittles]

1. he has the GALL to call others "elitist"

he's an entitled little PRICK

[dreamnightwind]

2. K & R, good OP - n/t