Biden's Wealth

 Joe Biden, once the self-proclaimed poorest member of Congress. Middle Class Joe, a 47-year public servant who averaged no more than $100000 a year in his career in politics.  A man whose humble beginnings and hardscrabble life on the mean streets of Scranton, not to mention his face-off with Cornpop, is the stuff of legend.  In 2009, while serving as vice-president, CBS described Biden as “the least wealthy administrative figure” with an estimated net worth of only $27012.  But what attracted Mr. Swift to today’s topic was an article in the Bloomberg Report that praised Mr. Biden for his selection of……wristwatches, particularly the Rolex Datejust he wore at the inauguration.  The article glowingly goes on to state, “Biden has been known for wearing larger-sized steel sports watches.  He’s been seen, most famously, in his blue-dial Omega Seamaster Professional 300m with its distinctive bracelet.  He’s also worn a Seiko 7T32-6M90 Chronograph on the campaign trail as well as a 42mm Omega Speedmaster Professional “Moonwatch”.   Even GQ magazine, perhaps the most liberal leaning waste of trees imaginable, praised Biden as “an adroit watch collector”, praising his choice of the inexpensive Seiko as well as the pricier Omegas and a vintage Vulcain Cricket in his collection.  Yes, the Seiko is indeed inexpensive and despite its high bling quotient it is merely an affordable wristwatch that can be had for just over $100, perhaps purposely used on the campaign trail to further the Middle Class Joe narrative.  But wait a minute.  That Rolex he wore at the inauguration retails for $6300, and the Omega selections check in at $3600 for the Seamaster and $5400 for the Speedy.  Even the Vulcain, a vintage timepiece, costs $2400.  So good old Joe, the man of the people, has a watch collection that prices out in the range of $18000, and those are the timepieces we know of, hardly a collection affordable for the masses he claims to represent.  But let’s be clear, I don’t begrudge Mr. Biden his indulgence in haute horologie.  On the contrary, I praise him for his investment and interest in classic timepieces.  Where I’m going to ding him, however, is the hypocrisy in sporting such indulgence, and being praised for it in the media, when we just spent four years attacking Donald Trump for his wealth and extravagancies, seeking to dissect every component of his empire and attempting to release and scrutinize his tax returns.  Even on their way out the door, the media took a parting shot at Melania Trump for her selection of a pricey designer handbag. 

So in the interest of fairness let’s dive a little deeper into Joe’s empire.  Eric Trump infamously tweeted out “The salary of US Senator is $174000 per year.  This is Joe Biden’s house….seems legit (eye roll emoji).  This was accompanied by a photograph of the 10000 square foot DuPont mansion, an estate purchase by Biden in the mid-1970s supposedly for $185000.  Biden reportedly used the home as a base of operations for his 1988 presidential campaign referring to it as “The Station”.  But the media, particularly USA Today leapt to his defense claiming the home was scheduled for demolition and Biden purchased it and renovated it, and besides, he no longer owns it.  Some defense.  So this was indeed when Biden was still a Senator, scratching out a meager existence on his public servant salary and yet he was able to purchase what appears to be quite the extravagant property for only $185000 and he still had the funds to be able to renovate it.  Uh-huh.  Mr. Biden must be particularly handy.  If that 10000 square foot monstrosity was in such a state that it was scheduled for demolition and sold for a mere $185000, to anyone who has ever engaged in a home improvement project, I ask you how exactly was he able to afford that renovation?  I smell a rat. And as far as the defense that he doesn’t own the property anymore, that is indeed the case.  After living in the home for some 20 years, he sold it for $1.2 Million to none other than John Cochran III, the vice-chairman of MBNA, the largest employer in Delaware.  You know MBNA, the credit card company that retained then 21-year old Hunter Biden as a consultant for an undisclosed sum during the same period of time that Senator Joe Biden supported legislation promoted by the credit card industry and opposed by consumer groups, according to CBS News. Yeah, that MBNA.  And as reported by BPR Business and Politics, shortly after the home sale MBNA executives “contributed generously to Biden’s campaign in a series of coordinated donations that sidestepped the contribution limits by the company’s PAC.”   MBNA employees “poured more than $200000 into Biden’s senate campaigns over two decades making the credit card company Biden’s largest source of campaign money.”  Further defense by USA Today’s fact checkers went on to declare that the Internet attacks on Mr. Biden, stating that he owns four properties, are not true.  As you may recall, Trump repeated the accusation in the presidential debates.  But, according to USA Today, he only owns two.  And what two properties are those? According to the Daily Times, his primary estate in “pricey Greenville and his 6-bedroom vacation house near Cape Henlopen State Park”.  Well that seems reasonable doesn’t it?  But let’s be more specific.  The four-acre lakefront Greenville property outside of Wilmington, was reportedly purchased in 1996 for an “estimated” $350000.  Biden then built a 6500 square foot residence now estimated to be worth $3 million. Once again, don’t let the media blur the timeline.  Biden purchased this property and built a luxurious residence on it in 1996 when he was still a Senator making $133600 per year.  And the beach house, with “ocean views and multiple outdoor decks, that backs up to Henlopen State Park,” coincidentally land that Joe Biden helped return to federal status, was acquired in 2017 and was purchased for $2.75 million, although USA Today defends the accusations of the pricey land acquisition as now only estimated to be worth $1.9 million. Only. Additionally, Joe also rented a $5 million 12000 square foot home in the upscale neighborhood of McLean, Virginia after his vice-presidency for $20000 per month. Disturbingly, this tony neighborhood is called home by many of our elected officials.  Allow me to digress but how exactly does that work on their $174000 a year salaries?  McLean obviously must have low-income housing. But USA Today and multiple mainstream media outlets go on to rationalize this extravagant lifestyle by stating that Joe no longer earns a Senator’s salary and in fact hasn’t since assuming the office of the Vice-president in 2009 when his salary jumped to $10 million from speaking engagements and book deals, leaving him with a current net worth estimated to be $9 million.  That’s correct.  Joe Biden, who can barely string a sentence together, was reportedly paid $10 million for speaking. 

So aside from the mathematically impaired and those prone to believe the nonsense spewed out by the mainstream media, this all sounds just a tad sketchy.  And what dated house basement was Joe sitting in for his presidential campaign that was repeatedly described by the media as a “modest A-frame? How exactly did Joe Biden purchase and renovate a 10000 square foot mansion in the 1970s on his meager Senator’s salary? And how was he worth an estimated $27012 in 2009 and yet in 1996 he was able to purchase 4 acres of lakefront property and build a residence worth an estimated $3 million? And let’s not forget the swarmy MBNA dealings when Hunter was paid as a consultant while Senator Joe was supporting legislation to prevent consumers from declaring bankruptcy when crippled with credit card debt.  That legislation, with the support of Obama, eventually passed.  According to Politico, in 2006, the day the Bidens took over Paradigm Global Investors, Hunter and Joe’s younger brother James, “laid out [their] vision for the fund’s future”: “Don’t worry about investors….we’ve got people all around the world who want to invest in Joe Biden. At the time, the senator was just months away from both assuming the chairmanship of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and launching his second presidential bid.  James Biden made it clear he viewed the fund as a way to take money from rich foreigners who could not legally give money to his older brother or his campaign account.  We’ve got investors lined up in a line of 747s filled with cash ready to invest in this company”.  Does any of this pay to play scheme sound at all familiar?  And the timeline seems particularly interesting in that it coincides with Joe Biden’s sudden increase in net worth.  So with all the focus on Trump’s finances and tax returns, it would appear that the hypocritical media needs to take a closer look at the Biden Family empire and their business dealings in both real estate and finance.  Recall the adage: trust a man who made a fortune, then went into politics more than a man who went into politics to make a fortune.