why professional politicians are so wealthy

[Traveler]

In a recent discussion with @anatess2 she voiced her opinion about politicians wasting her tax $$$$$.  But there are other ways politicians become very wealthy (rich).  There are great incentives to run for president or any office for that matter - especially with one of the two major parties.  Someone can lose big time in an election and yet win great piles of cash at the same time.  Here is one little example.  The largest cost for running for political office is advertising - most of which is done with broadcast TV.  The company that brokers the TV advertising budget gets a 20% kickback.  What almost all politicians do is form a LLC with a close friend or family member - in which they are, what is called, a silent partner.  This is all done so that at least 90% of the kickback money does into their personal or family account where they have total access to the money.  So if someone raises say 20 million for their campaign - that can launder 4 million into their own pockets.  There are laws the prevent using campaign money for personal expenses - but this method gets technically around that law.

B Sanders is criticized for becoming a millionaire from a book deal - but he made (or should I say his wife made) much much more brokering his TV add money during the 2016 presidential run.  @anatess2 is not correct - our friend Sanders bought his very expensive homes - not with hard earned taxes but by other means that are legal from campaign contributions.  Now Sanders is not the only politician to do this - this little trick is played by just about every politician.  Often money coming from political organizations (including national party organization) that donate money use this as a means to purchase politicians.  The point here is that large amounts of money coming from any number of interests - including drug cartels, foreign countries or companies and just about any other source of money interested in politics (like border law enforcement or avoiding prison for drug dealers) that are as quid-pro-quo as you can get - but it is legal.

 

The Traveler

[anatess2]

On 1/28/2020 at 11:37 PM, Traveler said:

B Sanders is criticized for becoming a millionaire from a book deal - but he made (or should I say his wife made) much much more brokering his TV add money during the 2016 presidential run.  @anatess2 is not correct - our friend Sanders bought his very expensive homes - not with hard earned taxes but by other means that are legal from campaign contributions. 

 

Uhm... I never said ever that Sanders became a millionaire with hard earned taxes...  I don't even know what that means "hard earned TAXES???" - you don't earn taxes.

And by the way - something that is legal does not mean it is ethical.  GRAFT and CORRUPTION is a thing.

 

Edited February 24, 2020 by anatess2