Estimate of Heinz Fortune Doubled

[cosmicone]

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/2004/la-na-heinz27jun27,1,6189224.story?coll=la-home-headlines
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Estimate of Heinz Fortune Doubled


John F. Kerry's wife oversees assets worth about $1 billion, a new Times analysis indicates.


By Ralph Vartabedian, Times Staff Writer


Teresa Heinz Kerry, through a network of investments in blue-chip corporations, venture capital funds and municipal bonds, controls a family fortune worth an estimated $1 billion, an examination of public records shows.

The $1-billion figure is double the estimates of her wealth that are widely cited in news stories about her husband, Massachusetts Sen. John F. Kerry, the presumptive Democratic nominee for president.

The couple would rank as the wealthiest to occupy the White House, far surpassing such storied presidential fortunes as the Kennedys'. Their assets are so vast and far-reaching that they mirror the U.S. economy, and will likely raise questions about conflicts of interest.

</snip>

This is relevant how? Conflict of interest my ass. Why don't these people write about Enron, Carlyle Group and Halliburton in the same detailed way????

[cosmicone]

1. Secondly ....

If she is opposing the war in Iraq instead of profiting from it like all the other "streetwalker" corporations, it shows a much higher level of integrity. Supporting the war and roll over for crumbs of the pentagon business would be a far easier thing for her to do.

[JuniperLea]

2. i think it's funny

that the fatbacks are pointing a finger at the pot and calling it black.

i can't fault anyone for coming from old money, no one gets to choose to whom they are born. it's what they do with that money that counts. do they give back to society for their good fortune.

they would never report on those corps mentioned in this detail... that would be shooting themselves in the foot.

[piece sine]

25. she's not old money

she inherited every nickel from dead Republican pickcle baron John Heinz. Actually, Bush was BORN into far more money than Teresa ore John.

John and Teresa repeatedly married well. They control someone else's family money.

How long is Michael Moore going to put up with a billionairess-widow First Lady with fix or six homes?? Please understand there substantial problems that we can't gloss-over for long.

[camby]

3. This shit just pisses me off

It's so damn tongue-in-cheek when they say it, you know they're laughing up their sleeves. Obviously just another attempt to depict Kerry as a hypocritical rich guy. How can having diverse investments that mimic the U.S. economy create a conflict of interest? In other words, Kerry would be loathe to adopt policies that would destroy the economy? I should fucking hope so.

[Massacure]

4. So the all of a sudden they just double her fortune?

I smell something fishy. It isn't the yummy kind either.

[yellowdawg]

5. That's OK . . .

I'd rather have a president beholden to the ketchup industry than to the oil and defense industries.

[noahmijo]

6. That's been my point from day one

Saudi Royal contacts VS a guy who is beholden to environmental groups and a ketchup company....hmmm...tough choice as to who we could trust more....

[glitch]

21. 1.4 Billion is the estimate of what the Bush family received from Saudi

over the years - I think that number is from Unger's House of Bush House of Saud.

[Dover]

7. Damage control after the movies release....

got to counteract Bush's selfincriminating "..you are my base" speech.

[piece sine]

27. That clip is from the Al Smith dinner in NYC

Gore spoke there too; the same night. Everything said from the podium is self-mocking satire. That's the style of the dinner -- a traditional Democratic dinner, I might add. Famous for its Friar's Club-style humor.

Moore was smart to pull that out of context; he really nails Bush good with it!

[Dover]

28. Well if Gore had spoken the same satirical words, it wouldn't have been

funny because it's too far from the truth...not a characteristic associated with him.

The truth is that the elite IS Bush's base....kind of an inside joke.

[gmoney]

8. These are estimates, after all...

I can ESTIMATE that George W. Bush has received $87 Zillion dollars from investing in pornography, but that doesn't make it true.

While I'm not a big fan of agri-business or food marketers, it's preferable to big oil or the miltary-industrial complex... or corrupt businessmen like the Bush family.

And I'm sure W. stands to inherit billions, but it's probably all off the books.

[Rebellious Republican]

9. Yeah, and like no one knew she was an heiress to a fortune

weather it be 500 million or a billion. That is not going to resonate with us common folk that make barely enough to stay alive. They are just taking pot shots cause they have nothing else. So what Karl she has a lot of money, no matter how you count it, you are going to have to do better than that. Poor ole Karl has lost his touch.

[PROGRESSIVE1]

10. So what??? Bush stole $20 Million!

[emulatorloo]

11. Note to Repugs: I like Rich People who are responsible and give back

to the country!

[emulatorloo]

12. OMG!!!! Kerry is in the back pocket of the KETCHUP INDUSTRY!!!!

What is next?!?!?! FRENCH FRIES???????????????

[mom cat]

13. And since Raygun declared Ketchup a vegetable, then federally funded

school lunch programs would constitute a real conflict. Oh my, oh my.

[emulatorloo]

19. GOOD LORD - no bid KETCHUP CONTRACTS to School Dietitians

I believe this needs its own thread.

:toast:

[mom cat]

24. Go for it!

[ilovenicepeople]

33. FREEDOM FRIES

I still call them that, it makes me laugh every time.:hi:

[VolcanoJen]

14. She's RICH!! Good for her!

That's been my stock answer to any freeping-types who like to slip it into our political conversations.

"I always thought you people endeared yourselves to the rich... what makes Teresa so different?" It's fun to watch their blood boil when I pretend not to care about Teresa's riches.

I do care, by the way... but I'm poker-faced in debate. :D

[The Magistrate]

20. A Good Line, Ma'am

The key element in this is that the assets are so dispersed "they mirror the U.S. economy." This is why persons of this degree of wealth generally oppose the smash and grab exercises that constitute Republican economic policy. With such large and diversified holdings, it is generally hard to identify any particular line of policy that will bring special benefit to the holdings: what might bring extra profit to one portion will likely inflict extra loss on another portion. The best policy to increase the value of such sizeable and diversified assests is simply to increase the total amount of economic activity, which will generate more profit overall, and the best way to do this is to increase employment and wages, and develope infrastructure. Those who support Republican policies are generally petty in the degree of wealth they possess, and have that wealth concentrated in particular industries, mostly industries of extraction, such as oil and mining, or dependent upon slave-cheap labor for their profit margins, like agribusiness and mass retailing. It is quite possible for these people to see lines of policy that will bnring them some immediate benefit, whatever the effect on the whole economy.

"The laboring people are necessarily the greatest proportion of society, and it is nonesense to maintain that what will benefit the greatest number can be injurious to the whole."

"LET'S GO GET THOSE BUSH BASTARDS!"

[truthisfreedom]

15. *yawn*

so?

[daleo]

16. Are they afraid that Kerry will invade Britain

To capture the Worcestershire Sauce market? Or get the H.P. sauce?

Frankly, some fortunes scare me more than others, and people who profit from manipulating the petroleum market threaten world peace much more than ketchup magnates.

[Piperay]

17. I love it...

it must scare the shit out of the Rwingers thinking that a 'commie librul' has all that money and can use it against them. :bounce: :evilgrin:

[Zorra]

18. Wow. Talk about good budgeting skills. Bu$h should take lessons

from Teresa on how to manage money. All that profit, and she gives so of it much away to charity.

Maybe she could teach Bu$h basic home economics: How to balance a checkbook.

The US is, like, 50 gazillion in the red right now?

[hyphenate]

22. It's not relevant

It's the right wingnuts trying to divert the attention from their own sordid affairs and make Mrs. Kerry's fortune seem somehow important in the scheme of things. Mrs. Kerry WON'T be running the country--her HUSBAND will be.

[Ivan Zero]

23. You can always grow more tomatoes

so that's why catsup is better than oil any day.

We can count on the Bush brigade to use the Kerry / Heinz fortune as a wedge. Libs are supposed to hate the wealthy! What's wrong with you? Kerry doesn't understand the common man! Blah blah blah.

Well, he's bound to have as good a grasp as the other blue-blooded Yalie son of privilege in the race, now hasn't he?

[cally]

26. Kerry financially struggled after his divorce

He does not have much money personally. Both of his wives had fortunes. He slept at friends' houses while a Senator.

Teresa and her sons have a fortune. They use it for good rather than focusing on making more money.

[SoCalDem]

29. Breaking:!!! Estimate of GWB's stupidity and hubris..QUADRUPLED

:)

[cosmicone]

30. No way ...

one cannot quadruple infinity !!! Mathematically impossible :P

[L.A.dweller]

31. Kerry rarely makes front page news

on the LA Times and regarding his WIFE'S fortune he finally does. Can't believe I subscribe to this paper. They didn't even bother to make an estimate of G.H.W. Bush's fortune.

[Occulus]

32. If there's so much money there

that it mirrors the US economy, doesn't that mean it's in her own personal best interst to see that the US economy is strong?

How, exactly, is that a bad thing?