Biden: not in politics for the money. Never has been.

[beastie boy]

"I entered as one of the poorest men in Congress, left one of the poorest men in government, in Congress and as vice president."

https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2019/oct/30/joe-biden/fact-checking-joe-bidens-claim-hes-among-poorest-g/

A man of unquestionable integrity.

[George II]

1. And I'm sure that once he's no longer running for president (win or lose) he won't be $2M richer.

[peggysue2]

2. Which is why trying to hang corruption around Biden's neck is such a stretch

If Joe Biden were corrupt or guilty of all the fraudulent dealings the Trumpsters have charged then he was pretty piss poor at being a crook. The question would be: where's the beef? It's certainly not in Biden's bank account. Or anywhere else.

[beastie boy]

3. The irony is, Biden is making his detractors very rich indeed.

Bashing Biden has become a pretty lucrative enterprise for many.

[Tipperary]

4. Biden is far from "poor."

He made four and a half million in 2018.

Anyone can google his net worth. He is not poor by any means, nor is he middle class.

[LanternWaste]

5. Thankfully, no one at all is arguing or implying otherwise.

"Poor' is an absolute.

"Poorest' (as well as 'poorer') is relative to an implicit subject.

[Tipperary]

6. Yup. "Poor" as compared to some of his fat cat pals.

Relative, indeed.

[Act_of_Reparation]

11. Relativity doesn't negate the definition of the root.

The word "poor" doesn't mean having less money than the guy next to you, it means lacking sufficient income to maintain a normative standard of living. "Poorer" most accurately relates two or more subjects who, though they may differ in the worth of their overall assets, nevertheless belong to a decidedly deprived economic stratum.

You wouldn't say Bill Gates is "poorer" than Jeff Bezos. You would say he's "less wealthy".

[cwydro]

14. This.

Spot on.

[Tipperary]

16. Yup. This.

I guess I am poor relatively, but I am also pretty wealthy relatively.

[George II]

7. This is what Joe Biden said:

"I entered as one of the poorest men in Congress, left one of the poorest men in government, in Congress and as vice president."

He left government on January 20, 2017, almost three years ago. No need for Google, all of his tax returns for the last 21 years are here (he didn't have to be cajoled to release them)

https://www.taxnotes.com/presidential-tax-returns

He was a PRIVATE citizen in 2018 and still is a private citizen. He didn't say he was a poor man today, but he didn't make $2M in his last two years in government.

[beastie boy]

8. According to the linked article,

Biden's net worth was $6,050 in 1973; negative -$47,494 in 2005; negative -$12,492 in 2006; negative -$52,493 in 2007; negative -$947,987 in 2014; negative -$947,987 in 2015; and between $2.14 million and $7.92 million as of July 2019. In other words, he has been dirt poor for all but the last four years of his long life, the four years outside of his public service.

Your 2018 estimate roughly checks out with these numbers, but it doesn't give a complete picture of his income history.

[Polybius]

9. He was far from dirt poor

Just because he had negative numbers doesn't mean everything, it just means he stupidly lived well above his salary. He could still buy more things than someone making $150,000 a year can buy.

Sorta like a boxer that's worth $100 million and buys a $110 million dollar home via loan. He'd be in negative numbers but can still easily spend millions.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

10. That Joe would say that says a lot.

Bernie/Elizabeth or Elizabeth/Bernie 2020!!
Either way, they're stronger together!!
Welcome to the revolution!!!

[beastie boy]

15. We can continue to speculate, or we can look at the numbers.

The choice is yours. It will not affect Biden's integrity one bit.

[cwydro]

17. Yeah, irritates me that he tries to use "poor" as a descriptor.

Doubt he’s ever known what it’s like to be “poor.”

I like Biden, wish he’d stop with this kind of thing.

[cwydro]

12. Biden isn't poor.

Not even close.

[Hortensis]

13. AND, not only was he not well to do on entering congress,

he decided then that he would never buy stocks or bonds because they so often raise questions of influence. And he hasn't, a decision that has to have cost him literal fortunes in this period of great wealth run-up. (Note that insider trading is trading on information not publicly known, not listening to ethical chat at gatherings by people making big things happen.)

What investments Biden has made have been in real estate, mostly his own homes. He's fond of fixing up old houses and, when younger at least, enjoyed working on them himself.

That $4 million, btw, is paltry for someone who's been a congressman and then U.S. senator for 5 decades. But salaries often don't cover much more than expenses. His wife, of course, was a schoolteacher for most of her working years, and we know how greedy and overpaid they are.

Much of their estate is going to be from appreciation related to their residences in areas where even people who bought a 1400 sqft cracker box 30 years ago can be at least technically millionaires as a result. But any real estate investments should have shown at least a nice appreciation over this period.