Where did the President and his Grandparents get their money?

Vanity | 9/20/03 | Vainty

[undeniable logic]

He made a huge profit because he bought into the investment when it was not subsidized and sold it after it was subsidized. The subsidy made the venture more profitable, so the value of the venture grew. As far as the $50m number, I thought that is what I remembered hearing on the biography channel special. Maybe I was confused with his net worth. If so, I apologize. This does not change the principle of how the money was made.

Look, in general, I like Bush. I just have a problem with what was done with this investment. I do not like the idea of taxpayers subsidizing a private venture. Think about it. Half a percent of every dollar spent in Arlington went to the ballpark. Do you really think it is fair that a private individual can become wealthy through a tax on individuals. I can open a business tomorrow and that would be beneficial. I would hire someone, pay rent, buy supplies, make the market more competetive in a specific industry, but should taxpayers have to pay a tax to reward me for this?

[undeniable logic]

I thought that is what I heard on a biography special on him about two years ago. I may be confused with his net worth. If so, I apologize. The actual dollar figure is unimportant. Someone else here said between 10 & 20 million. What's the difference. He made money through an increased sales tax in the city. I just think this is wrong.

[deport]

I do not like the idea of taxpayers subsidizing a private venture.

---

Did the local taxpayers, citizens of Arlington vote on the tax? If so did it pass? Then why can't the locals do as they please? If the people of Arlington are happy with it then so am I.

Lots of local taxing entities give tax breaks or deferrments to business entities for locating or expanding in their area..... nothing unusal about that... Hey creates new jobs, additionals satelite businesses, ........

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

Also Abraham Lincoln stole $3.00 from his cousin and was mean to his mother....

You mean his wicked stepmother don't you? 'Cause his momma died when he was just a little sprout.

And I heard he borrowed a book once and let it get rained on.

[ChefKeith]

Do You REALLY want to know?

Freepmail Me if You do...

[Genesis defender]

And I heard he borrowed a book once and let it get rained on.

No, no, you're thinking of the book Lincoln swiped (from an elderly woman) and threw in a mud puddle.

[undeniable logic]

With your logic, you should be happy with social security, our education system, medicare, our policy on illegal immigrants, etc. After all, isn't that what the majority of Americans support?

Just because the majority support something, doesn't mean that I should agree with it or support it as well. I don't agree with giving certain business entities tax breaks or deferrments as an incentive to relocate or expand in an area. This is basically admitting that the general policy is not good enough, so it will be circumvented for the lucky few. The right thing to do is create policy that is effective and fair to all businesses & citizens, policy that fosters a fair and competetive environment for all businesses without special privaledges for the few.

One final point. The local taxpayers did vote on the tax and it did pass and they can do as they please. I just disagree with it, that's all. I used to live in Atlanta. Our city voted in Bill Campbell who was natorious for giving out handouts to his buddies. Are you saying that I shouldn't be upset with this, that in fact I should be happy, because the majority is getting what they want?

[writmeister]

Barbara Bush's father was a magazine publisher in New York City. I think he published McCall's -- but it could have been another woman's magazine.

[Ready4Freddy]

Dubya had no $$$ invested in the Rangers, but was the managing GP w/ a very small % ownership. He helped put together the group that bought the club (mostly Poppy's friends), and did a good job managing the business (not the team :).

The stadium deal was indeed voted on by the Arlington residents, tho I doubt many of them realize that the land the Stadium sits on will be conveyed to the club owners after 30 years. The taxpayers managed to give millions to the owners, and gave them public land to boot. Wonder what several hundred acres of I-30 property will be worth in (now) ~21 years.

[Ready4Freddy]

Correction:

The club owners will own the stadium & land (much of it grabbed by emminent domain at low prices) in 3 years.

Arlington taxpayers put up>$150 million for the stadium, and the owners are buying it w/ their $5 million / yr rent for $60 million.

Helluva deal, and the main reason that the group was able to buy the club for $86 mil and sell it for >250 mil 10 years later.

[RLK]

He helped put together the group that bought the club (mostly Poppy's friends), and did a good job managing the business (not the team :).

---------------------------

If family contacts want to provide me with several hundred million dollars and land acquired through distorting the concept of eminent domain, I could manage it rather well also. Like Bush, I wouldn't need any experience, background, or personal investment to do it.

It was basically a gift.

[lonestar]

I hate it when taxpayers are asked to provide stadiums for "fat cats." But that's the world we live in.

All I'm saying is GWB played by the rules. Rules I don't like any better than you.

The voters approved.

[afz400]

Even Reagan engaged in a little bit of the kind of thing the small guys never get in on (he was still a great president IMHO in spite of this):
On December 13, 1966, the month after Reagan was elected governor of California, MCA's founder, Jules Stein, along with Reagan's personal attorney, William French Smith (who later became Reagan’s attorney general), sold 236 of Reagan's 290 acres in Malibu Canyon to Twentieth Century-Fox.
The purchase price was $1.93 million, or $8,178 an acre—even though Fox's experts had appraised the land at only $944,000, or $4,000 an acre.
In July 1968, Reagan used the remaining 54 acres in Malibu Canyon (which were appraised at $165,000) as a down payment on a $346,950 property in Riverside, California, that he was buying from Kaiser Aluminum Company. However, there was a proviso in the contract that said that if Kaiser couldn't sell the 54 acres within a year, Reagan would have to buy them back.
By July 1969, Kaiser hadn't sold the land. To bail Governor Reagan out, Stein set up the 57th Madison Corporation, which was chartered in Delaware, and personally purchased the property for $165,000.

[Hillary's Lovely Legs]

Your poem doesn't rhyme.

[gulfcoast6]

Ummmmm, where did the Kennedys get THEIR money form.

[Hillary's Lovely Legs]

Chester A. Arthur's administration, however, proved to be quite different than his country expected. It was marked by honesty and by the replacement of the spoils system with the present Civil Service system based on merit.

Chester A. Arthur is remembered ( ok, no one remembers him), but everything I know and have read about him says that he was an honest man.

[Ready4Freddy]

"It was basically a gift"

And what a gift it was, the gift that keeps on giving - the Rangers / TBA deal provided Dubya with $$$, the first real money he'd made in his career, and name recognition:

- no TBA deal, no $$$
- no $$$, no Crawford ranch
- no name recognition, no Governor of Texas
- no Governor of Texas, no Presidency

As far as the Rangers' management 'playing by the rules' goes - several of the landowners who had their land siezed for the TBA took the group to court over the amounts paid for the land, and won >$11 mil in settlements. Dubya's ownership group refused to pay the settlement, trying to put the cost back on the Arlington taxpayers who had already paid for everyting else. The Hicks group paid the settlement after they bought the club in 1998.

Was Dubya aware of the land shenanigans? "The idea of making a land play, absolutely, to plunk the field down in the middle of a big piece of land, that's kind of always been the strategy." ~ GW Bush, Ft Worth Star Telegram, October, 1990

[lonestar]

- no TBA deal, no $$$

- no $$$, no Crawford ranch

- no name recognition, no Governor of Texas

- no Governor of Texas, no Presidency

Name recognition? When his name was George Bush?

[Ready4Freddy]

You don't think the electorate would have been able to differentiate between an ex-prez & his never-done-anything-on-his-own-up-to-that-point son?

[Ready4Freddy]

Dubya knew he had a name recognition problem, lonestar.

" "My biggest liability in Texas is the question, 'What's the boy ever done?' He could be riding on Daddy's name." ~ GW Bush, Time Magazine, 1989