http://www.dailykos.com/stories/201...s-Marco-Rubio-so-incredibly-poor?detail=email
"Incredibly poor" is an overstatement, IMO, but otherwise, spot on. How the fuck is he worth only 400k with that salary for that long(and financial scandals in his resume, to boot).
Why is Marco Rubio so incredibly poor?
By databob
Friday Nov 13, 2015 4:37 AM PST
We’ve heard a lot about Marco Rubio’s credit card problems, but as I was researching that interesting subject, I came upon this nugget at OpenSecrets.org:
YEAR INCOME TAX PAID
No, this isn’t a ‘struggling’ young legislator. Rubio graduated from law school in 1996, got elected to the West Miami city commission in 1998 and the Florida legislature in 2000. That position didn’t pay much (it’s $29,000 per year now) but with the legislature only meeting 60 days per year, he had plenty of time for outside income…. and, as the table shows, he made the most of it.
Oh, let’s not forget that the years 2005-2008 were when he got to carry a Republican Party of Florida credit card, which he charged about $182,000 of ‘official expenses’ to. I’ve looked at those charges, and they stink to high heaven (maybe another diary there).
In 2010, Rubio made another $234,000 plus whatever his wife brought home from her job, variously described as ‘consulting’ or ‘event planning’ or ‘charity work’. BTW, she works for a company owned by the Norman Braman, who just happens to be Rubio’s ‘sugar daddy’ billionaire. In 2013, Braman’s charity donated a grand total of $250 to charity (no, I didn’t forget to put zeros after the $250), yet it paid Marco’s wife at least $54,000,
2010 saw Marco elected to the US Senate, where he earns $174,000 plus a travel expenses and other perks.
Then, in 2012, Rubio collected a book advance of $800,000, followed in 2013 by $345,000 in royalties, and another $30,000 in 2014. Of course, his wife is still pulling down ‘>$1,000’ from her job (that’s all the disclosure rules require), and Marco earns about $22,000 per year for teaching at Florida International University. Oh, BTW, Marco’s teaching job at FIU was funded by….. wait for it…… Norman Braman!
Here’s what Rubio says he did with the book advance:
So after all this income, including over $1 million in a windfall from his book, what did Marco do in 2014? Here is the page from his Senate financial disclosure for 2014:
Yeah, Senator Marco Rubio, who wants to be our president and become responsible for the largest, most complex economy in the world, cashed in his only retirement savings! And this came at the end of a 15 year period in which he earned at least $4,585,000, an annual average of over $300,000.
After busting his IRA, what does that leave Marco with for assets?
Let’s see…. somewhere between $151,000 and $365,000 in checking/money market/savings accounts (earning virtually zero interest, btw) and less than $15,000 in Coca Cola stock.
And in case you thought he’s saved enough to send all four of his kids to college……. his 2014 disclosure statement has between $35,000 and $160,000 in total college savings. With annual costs at the University of Florida running $20,500, he’s going to need at least $320,000 to put 4 kids through school… and his oldest is about to turn 16.
Is his money tied up in his house? Well, he bought it in 2006 for $550,000 and immediately took out a $135,000 equity loan to fix it up (it was almost brand new, btw). From his 2014 disclosure:
Seriously, do you know anyone who took out a mortgage in 2006 for 6.5% (and an equity loan at 7.25%) and never bothered to refinance? Even when rates were in the mid threes? This is arguably stupider than cashing in his IRAs when he had a couple hundred thousand in the bank.
He did refinance the house and got rid of the equity line last year — finally — getting his rate down to 4.5%. Good for him.
I suspect that if Marco had a drug or gambling or prostitute problem we’d know about it by now, so this looks like nothing more than the absolutely most abysmal family financial management you or I could possibly imagine. Which leaves me with one question:
How’s the (literally) poor guy going to survive on the measly $400,000 we pay our president?
Maybe the Republican Party will give him back the credit card.
"Incredibly poor" is an overstatement, IMO, but otherwise, spot on. How the fuck is he worth only 400k with that salary for that long(and financial scandals in his resume, to boot).
Why is Marco Rubio so incredibly poor?
By databob
Friday Nov 13, 2015 4:37 AM PST
We’ve heard a lot about Marco Rubio’s credit card problems, but as I was researching that interesting subject, I came upon this nugget at OpenSecrets.org:
Marco Rubio (R-Fla) ranks 98th in the Senate with an estimated net worth* of $443,509 in 2013.
At first I thought: ‘Well, gee, he spent 8 years in the Florida legislature and has been a US senator since 2010, so maybe he just hasn’t made a whole lot of money.’ Then I ran across a table listing Rubio’s income and federal income tax paid for the years before he became a senator:
YEAR INCOME TAX PAID
| 2000 | 82,710 | 11,769 |
|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 89,879 | 13,883 |
| 2002 | 124,721 | 21,661 |
| 2003 | 122,718 | 17,414 |
| 2004 | 301,864 | 71,361 |
| 2005 | 330,106 | 76,739 |
| 2006 | 318,789 | 59,834 |
| 2007 | 308,285 | 54,423 |
| 2008 | 399,187 | 86,010 |
| 2009 | 317,531 | 60,611 |
No, this isn’t a ‘struggling’ young legislator. Rubio graduated from law school in 1996, got elected to the West Miami city commission in 1998 and the Florida legislature in 2000. That position didn’t pay much (it’s $29,000 per year now) but with the legislature only meeting 60 days per year, he had plenty of time for outside income…. and, as the table shows, he made the most of it.
Oh, let’s not forget that the years 2005-2008 were when he got to carry a Republican Party of Florida credit card, which he charged about $182,000 of ‘official expenses’ to. I’ve looked at those charges, and they stink to high heaven (maybe another diary there).
In 2010, Rubio made another $234,000 plus whatever his wife brought home from her job, variously described as ‘consulting’ or ‘event planning’ or ‘charity work’. BTW, she works for a company owned by the Norman Braman, who just happens to be Rubio’s ‘sugar daddy’ billionaire. In 2013, Braman’s charity donated a grand total of $250 to charity (no, I didn’t forget to put zeros after the $250), yet it paid Marco’s wife at least $54,000,
2010 saw Marco elected to the US Senate, where he earns $174,000 plus a travel expenses and other perks.
Then, in 2012, Rubio collected a book advance of $800,000, followed in 2013 by $345,000 in royalties, and another $30,000 in 2014. Of course, his wife is still pulling down ‘>$1,000’ from her job (that’s all the disclosure rules require), and Marco earns about $22,000 per year for teaching at Florida International University. Oh, BTW, Marco’s teaching job at FIU was funded by….. wait for it…… Norman Braman!
Here’s what Rubio says he did with the book advance:
Rubio used the book money to settle more than $100,000 in student-loan debt, put at least $100,000 in a money-market account, buy an $80,000 fishing boat for the family and give nearly $65,000 to charity over two years. He sent his four kids to private school and set up savings accounts for their college education. Rubio parlayed his first book into a second publishing deal for American Dreams: Restoring Economic Opportunity for Everyone, a policy discussion foreshadowing his current bid for president.
I was surprised to find that he didn’t send his kids to private school until 2012. I had thought it would have been a good ‘money sink’ to explain where he spent a lot of money prior to 2012, but no such luck.
So after all this income, including over $1 million in a windfall from his book, what did Marco do in 2014? Here is the page from his Senate financial disclosure for 2014:
Yeah, Senator Marco Rubio, who wants to be our president and become responsible for the largest, most complex economy in the world, cashed in his only retirement savings! And this came at the end of a 15 year period in which he earned at least $4,585,000, an annual average of over $300,000.
After busting his IRA, what does that leave Marco with for assets?
Let’s see…. somewhere between $151,000 and $365,000 in checking/money market/savings accounts (earning virtually zero interest, btw) and less than $15,000 in Coca Cola stock.
And in case you thought he’s saved enough to send all four of his kids to college……. his 2014 disclosure statement has between $35,000 and $160,000 in total college savings. With annual costs at the University of Florida running $20,500, he’s going to need at least $320,000 to put 4 kids through school… and his oldest is about to turn 16.
Is his money tied up in his house? Well, he bought it in 2006 for $550,000 and immediately took out a $135,000 equity loan to fix it up (it was almost brand new, btw). From his 2014 disclosure:
Seriously, do you know anyone who took out a mortgage in 2006 for 6.5% (and an equity loan at 7.25%) and never bothered to refinance? Even when rates were in the mid threes? This is arguably stupider than cashing in his IRAs when he had a couple hundred thousand in the bank.
He did refinance the house and got rid of the equity line last year — finally — getting his rate down to 4.5%. Good for him.
I suspect that if Marco had a drug or gambling or prostitute problem we’d know about it by now, so this looks like nothing more than the absolutely most abysmal family financial management you or I could possibly imagine. Which leaves me with one question:
How’s the (literally) poor guy going to survive on the measly $400,000 we pay our president?
Maybe the Republican Party will give him back the credit card.
