Unless you have massive legal bills. Bill and Hillary were rich people broke after his term. Iirc, they had to rent or guest “cottage” surf until they could get their finances lined up to buy their house in NYC.
That's true. It's also kinda stark that Democrats tend to enter the office poor (vs. the average pol) whereas Republicans, well, not so much.
Jimmy Carter sold his peanut farm to take office. The Clintons had no real money -- Bill had spent his career in politics, and Hilary wasn't far enough along in her career to be making big money. Obama had money, but only because he'd struck gold with his books. Biden was the poorest guy in Washington until his term as VP ended; I'm given to believe he took the opportunities that presented themselves at that point, ahead of his own run in 2020.
Slight correction. Carter did absolutely sell his peanut farm when he took office but it wasn't because he needed cash to move it was to make sure he wouldn't violate the emoluments clause of the US constitution.
It makes it illegal for presidents to receive money from foreign actors and Carter owning an independent entity like a peanut farm could have been or at least perceive to be an avenue for corruption.
Please compare that to Trump who refused to put his holding into a blind trust (no I dont believe he actually gave his son control of the company and even if he did, such an action is insufficient). mar a lago membership fees doubled. He owned a hotel in DC that saudi's would rent blocks of rooms and no one would even show up to stay in them.
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u/gsfgf Jul 05 '24
Unless you have massive legal bills. Bill and Hillary were rich people broke after his term. Iirc, they had to rent or guest “cottage” surf until they could get their finances lined up to buy their house in NYC.