Bush May Have Lost Wealth During Presidency

[LTR]

Source: Washington Post

President Bush's financial fortunes appear to have declined over the past seven years, with his family assets dropping as low as $6.5 million, according to disclosure forms released yesterday.

Bush and his wife, Laura, were worth at least $9 million and as much as $24 million at the start of his term. The Bushes could still be worth as much as $20 million now, according to the financial documents filed with the Office of Government Ethics, which requires assets to be reported only within broad ranges.

Vice President Cheney and his wife, Lynne, have fared better, reporting assets of at least $21 million and as much as $99 million, the forms show. The Cheneys are at least as wealthy as they were when the vice president entered office, and may have added as much as $29 million to their net worth during his tenure.

President Bush's biggest asset is a 1,600-acre family ranch near Crawford, Tex., which is listed as being worth between $1 million and $5 million. Most of the Bush family holdings are in real estate and a blind trust.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/15/AR2008051503534_pf.html

[driver8]

1. Cheney has all of the Halliburton stocks and kickbacks...

he has made a killing!

Don't worry, pissypants will build up the family wealth once he gets on the lecture circuit.

[Cha]

28. Yeah, bush on the lecture trail

for Worst Presidency(sic) in History Tour.

[tridim]

2. Am I supposed to feel sorry for the Bush family WP?

Fuck this article and fuck Bush, he's still filthy rich for doing nothing but destroying my country and being a complete idiot.

[OwnedByFerrets]

3. BS.........

they have just learned new ways to hide it.

[dcindian]

4. He is set for life.

After he is done raping America in office his Saudi buddies will give him anything he would ask for. Just check out how his traitor father makes his money.

The bush family has made a living selling America down the road to the highest bidder.

[Cieran]

5. Incorrect: They may have lost PUBLIC wealth...

But billions have gone into the New World Order's operational funding. These traitors hide the money flow well, and they only show us a tiny fraction of the income they make in their public filings.

[SpiralHawk]

6. "Thank heavens for Switzerland. Smirk." - Commander AWOL

[Robbien]

12. And also for those Caymen/Liechtenstein Offshore accounts

Can't have the president paying the same taxes as the peons now could we.

[stubtoe]

7. And that blind trust??

"President Bush himself is an heir to these profits from the holocaust which were placed in a blind trust in 1980 by his father, former president George Herbert Walker Bush."

Referenced in this post by Octafish: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x3294979

[TheDebbieDee]

8. Remember those pallets of cash that were shipped to Baghdad?

I'm sure the * had a couple of those pallets of cash deposited in his bank account! Bank accounts that I'm sure the public knows nothing about.

Besides, if he thinks he's going to come up short on cash, I'm sure he'll have the Treasury Department print more cash, just as he has for the last 7 years.

[graycem]

9. ah, I doubt they're including

all the payouts coming to him for the many favors he's granted.

[Zynx]

21. He'll collect those in their many forms after he is out.

There's no point in bribing a public official while they're in office when you can just give them some meaningless position you pay them $5 million a year for later.

[sfaprog]

10. "Broad ranges"? I'm sure Bush is completely open and above-the-board with his personal finances

I mean, look at how much he's opened up our government

:sarcasm: <-- shouldn't be necessary, but just in case

[fshrink]

11. Yeah, right.

[GreenTea]

13. This doesn't include all his nontaxable, untraceable offshore accounts kickbacks from OIL & other

corporations making a killing (hundreds of billions of dollars) in Iraq and soon Iran, if the republicans get their way....billions more for corporations.

[gratuitous]

14. Not to worry

Bush himself has said he'll hit the conservative welfare--oops, that's lecture circuit after he's gone from the White House, and "refill the old coffers." And after filling so many coffins during his tenure, he's sure to be a big hit with some very wealthy blood-drinkers.

[knight_of_the_star]

15. Oh boo hoo

That's still 6.5 million more than most people in this country.

[Kool Kitty]

16. Poor thing!

My heart bleeds...ice water. :nopity:

[Nikki Stone1]

17. I think this sad news deserves a whole string section. :)

:nopity: :nopity:
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[matt007]

18. That family will never run out of money

Lol He will go back to his ranch and make some phone calls and presto! Buisness and real estate deals! That family has had loads of cash since prescott and george the first.



I hope his Library/Fantasy re-write of his term gets put on some cheap property on the outskirts of crawford tx.
lol that would be hilarious.

[Iggo]

19. BULL-FUCKING-SHIT.

I knows a billionaire when I smells one.

That is all.

[Jefferson23]

20. Two fucking war criminals, with no lack of money, ever. Fuck you Bush. Drop off a bridge Cheney.

[Historic NY]

22. A failed businessman anda failed president...who cares I hope

he loses all his illgotten gain.

[Crowman1979]

23. Replace the word Wealth with Sanity or Mind.

That is a more accurate assesment

[libodem]

24. It's all hidden off shore

I so wish he could be stripped of his fortune from war profiteering and violating the Hatch Act. My friends hired a cleaning lady for me as a gift. The woman was a hoot. What I learned is that because she is self-employed she pays 33% income tax. I don't remember exactly how she broke it down but it was 17% and 16% one part for employee taxes and the other part or the employer tax. 33 cents of every dollar goes to Bush. Now tell me how these crooks have made taxes so fair while they have enriched themselves? Pricks.

[catzies]

29. I'm guessing it broke down like this: 27.7% is total FICA taxes, bal. is income taxes

But it's misleading to say "33% income taxes" when that's 33% total tax burden.

And she can deduct half of that 27.7%. That total comprises 7.65% Socal Security and 6.2% Medicare, doubled (1/2 from employee 1/2 from employer). Everyone on a payroll has that 13.85% deducted from their check. When you're self-employed, you pay your share, plus the "employer's" share and that's what you get to deduct later.

So, if her total tax burden is 33%, less her payroll tax burden of 27.7%, her income tax liability is only 5.3%. I'd kill for that. My taxes have gone UP under the BFEE while my income has gone DOWN.

[tom_paine]

25. Are you kidding me?!? That family has their criminal proceeds stashed

in Cayman Islands and other fraudulent accounts all over this Earth.

It doesn't matter WHAT the Bushies' PAPER wealth is, their family fortune of criminal stolen loot undoubtedly dwarfs what they show on paper...like other Mafiosi.

Hell, they probably still have bags of Jewish gold teeth that Grandpa Prescott got from his good friend Hitler back in the 30s, stashed away in one of those Cayman Islands safe deposit boxes.

[Honeycombe8]

26. I don't believe this for a minute. The wealthy in the U.S. have done VERY well these last 7 years.

Bush would be no exception, unless he has a horrible financial manager.

And Cheney, being a war profiteer, has probably done exceedingly well, due to his connections to Halliburton (he still gets a pension or something, and owns tons of Halliburton stock, WHICH HAS SKYROCKETED IN VALUE in the last 7 years, if I'm not mistaken).

[galledgoblin]

27. cry me a fucking river

"as low as 6.5 Million" if indeed that's as much as he has, he's still richer than he damn well deserves.

he should be forced to send every penny to all the American and Iraqi orphans whose parents he killed... and to every parent who lost their children.

:puke: