By Florida Bill
Barack Hussein Obama II. Love him or hate him, he has been America's president for nearly eight years. But I cannot help wondering how he became so prosperous in less than a decade of directing America's business.
He is a smart man, sharp when it comes to investments, so I am told. Just maybe he got some tips from Hillary Clinton, the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee. When Mrs. Clinton was the first lady in Arkansas, she invested $1,000 in cattle futures, and had a return of $100,000 in ten months. That takes some wisdom.
Celebrity net worth analysts and other publications say that Obama's worth when he entered public life in 1997 and when he entered the Oval Office was about $1.3 million. That figure took into account all of his assets; his home, cars, bank accounts and other possessions. As he exits the White House next January, his net worth is estimated to be $12.2 million and climbing.
His comfort and financial security is also enhanced by his wife Michelle, who is said to have a personal worth of $11.8 million dollars. I am not sure where her fortune came from. She is an Ivy League lawyer but it took her a couple of tries to pass the Illinois bar exam and she then worked as an undistinguished associate in a law firm for about four years. Maybe she is like her much older dollar-driven friend, Hillary Clinton, who knows how to make lots of money. The President's net worth and that of his spouse are independent of each other.
In the late 1990s, and in the years prior to becoming president, Obama drew compensation of $80,000 annually as an Illinois legislator and a moonlighting salary of $32,000 a year from the University of Chicago law school where he was a lecturer. After the Illinois legislature, he was elected a United States senator in 2005 and his salary increased to $162,000 annually with generous expenses and perks.
Upon assuming the office of President in January 2009, the 47-year-old Obama began drawing an annual salary of $400,000 and a $50,000 yearly expense account; and $20,000 for entertainment and a tax-free $100,000 for travel. Obama may have saved some of his compensation for a rainy day, but probably not much. Very likely, he made full use of his expense account and the funds for travel and entertainment.
In 2009 Obama was awarded the Noble prize for Peace and a cash award of $1.4 million. He was financially comfortable enough by that time to give the entire amount to various charities, according to reports. Personally, I do not begrudge him becoming wealthy. I just wonder how he did it so quickly. Make no mistake about it--Americans want their President to be treated in a way which recognizes that the office of President and Commander-in-Chief is the most powerful and prestigious office in the world. The occupant is deserving of the very best.
The Lincolns, for example, were forever wrangling with Congress over the money that Mary Todd Lincoln spent on clothes and furnishings for the White House. After her husband's death, she spent much of her time importuning legislators to grant her an allowance to live on. No one wants to see our presidents or their family members pinching pennies.
With his twelve millions, and his wife's, $11.2 million, Obama won't have to go begging after his retirement. Yet he still has a way to go to top or even match other presidents; and he is way short of the assets of his 2012 opponent, Gov. Mitt Romney whose wealth is said to be a quarter of a billion dollars. He will probably never be in the same league as his Secretary of State, John Kerry, who is said to have a stash totaling $190 million dollars and who was an unsuccessful aspirant for president in 2004. Kerry's wife Teresa, an heir to the Heinz ketchup fortune, has assets of her own at about $200 million dollars.
Analysts say that Obama has invested heavily in treasury bonds and notes, but apparently the heavy money has come from royalties from his books, "Dreams from my Father" written in 1995 and republished after Obama became prominent; and "The Audacity of Hope," for which he received a $1.9 million advance in 2004 from Random House. He is also the author of a third book, “Of Thee I Sing: A Letter to My Daughter." Some analysts have reported that it is difficult to ascertain an exact overview of the President's net worth. Declarations are not as specific as it appears they should be. In some reports it was said that his net worth increased by 400 per cent in eight years while others have said that it was twice that. When Bill and Hillary Clinton left the White House in 2001, Hillary has said that they were just about broke. According to some reports, they exited with purloined house china, and furniture and other booty worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. But there is no longer any need for any tag days for the couple; in the next decade or so they pulled up their bootstraps and went to work giving speeches that earned them more than $150 million dollars. They also formed a charitable foundation which currently is said to have a principle of about a billion dollars and which apparently compensates them as trustees. Upon leaving the oval office in January, 2017, Obama has said That the family will rent a home in D.C. to allow their daughters to complete classes in schools familiar to them. He said that the rent will be $22,000 per month. The home, a mansion, will cover 8,200 square feet and have nine bedrooms and nine bathrooms. Later, he has said, the family will reside permanently in the Chicago area where the Obama presidential library is expected to be established.
Public service has always been considered a noble profession, but who knew it could be so profitable?
xxx
I
Celebrity net worth analysts and other publications say that Obama's worth when he entered public life in 1997 and when he entered the Oval Office was about $1.3 million. That figure took into account all of his assets; his home, cars, bank accounts and other possessions. As he exits the White House next January, his net worth is estimated to be $12.2 million and climbing.
His comfort and financial security is also enhanced by his wife Michelle, who is said to have a personal worth of $11.8 million dollars. I am not sure where her fortune came from. She is an Ivy League lawyer but it took her a couple of tries to pass the Illinois bar exam and she then worked as an undistinguished associate in a law firm for about four years. Maybe she is like her much older dollar-driven friend, Hillary Clinton, who knows how to make lots of money. The President's net worth and that of his spouse are independent of each other.
His comfort and financial security is also enhanced by his wife Michelle, who is said to have a personal worth of $11.8 million dollars. I am not sure where her fortune came from. She is an Ivy League lawyer but it took her a couple of tries to pass the Illinois bar exam and she then worked as an undistinguished associate in a law firm for about four years. Maybe she is like her much older dollar-driven friend, Hillary Clinton, who knows how to make lots of money. The President's net worth and that of his spouse are independent of each other.
In the late 1990s, and in the years prior to becoming president, Obama drew compensation of $80,000 annually as an Illinois legislator and a moonlighting salary of $32,000 a year from the University of Chicago law school where he was a lecturer. After the Illinois legislature, he was elected a United States senator in 2005 and his salary increased to $162,000 annually with generous expenses and perks.
Upon assuming the office of President in January 2009, the 47-year-old Obama began drawing an annual salary of $400,000 and a $50,000 yearly expense account; and $20,000 for entertainment and a tax-free $100,000 for travel. Obama may have saved some of his compensation for a rainy day, but probably not much. Very likely, he made full use of his expense account and the funds for travel and entertainment.In 2009 Obama was awarded the Noble prize for Peace and a cash award of $1.4 million. He was financially comfortable enough by that time to give the entire amount to various charities, according to reports. Personally, I do not begrudge him becoming wealthy. I just wonder how he did it so quickly. Make no mistake about it--Americans want their President to be treated in a way which recognizes that the office of President and Commander-in-Chief is the most powerful and prestigious office in the world. The occupant is deserving of the very best.
The Lincolns, for example, were forever wrangling with Congress over the money that Mary Todd Lincoln spent on clothes and furnishings for the White House. After her husband's death, she spent much of her time importuning legislators to grant her an allowance to live on. No one wants to see our presidents or their family members pinching pennies.
With his twelve millions, and his wife's, $11.2 million, Obama won't have to go begging after his retirement. Yet he still has a way to go to top or even match other presidents; and he is way short of the assets of his 2012 opponent, Gov. Mitt Romney whose wealth is said to be a quarter of a billion dollars. He will probably never be in the same league as his Secretary of State, John Kerry, who is said to have a stash totaling $190 million dollars and who was an unsuccessful aspirant for president in 2004. Kerry's wife Teresa, an heir to the Heinz ketchup fortune, has assets of her own at about $200 million dollars.
Analysts say that Obama has invested heavily in treasury bonds and notes, but apparently the heavy money has come from royalties from his books, "Dreams from my Father" written in 1995 and republished after Obama became prominent; and "The Audacity of Hope," for which he received a $1.9 million advance in 2004 from Random House. He is also the author of a third book, “Of Thee I Sing: A Letter to My Daughter."
Some analysts have reported that it is difficult to ascertain an exact overview of the President's net worth. Declarations are not as specific as it appears they should be. In some reports it was said that his net worth increased by 400 per cent in eight years while others have said that it was twice that. When Bill and Hillary Clinton left the White House in 2001, Hillary has said that they were just about broke. According to some reports, they exited with purloined house china, and furniture and other booty worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. But there is no longer any need for any tag days for the couple; in the next decade or so they pulled up their bootstraps and went to work giving speeches that earned them more than $150 million dollars. They also formed a charitable foundation which currently is said to have a principle of about a billion dollars and which apparently compensates them as trustees.
Upon leaving the oval office in January, 2017, Obama has said That the family will rent a home in D.C. to allow their daughters to complete classes in schools familiar to them. He said that the rent will be $22,000 per month. The home, a mansion, will cover 8,200 square feet and have nine bedrooms and nine bathrooms. Later, he has said, the family will reside permanently in the Chicago area where the Obama presidential library is expected to be established.
Public service has always been considered a noble profession, but who knew it could be so profitable?
xxx
xxx
I
I
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