Editor,
Most of us would be happy to have $10 million at our disposal. We would definitely feel rich, although it is certainly not extreme or exceptional wealth.
I’m sure there are a handful of residents in Mariposa County that enjoy that kind of affluence. But with the median individual income here at $41,417, there can’t be that many.
Our president, Donald Trump, on the other hand, accumulated $2.2 billion dollars last year alone while he was “busy” being president. To put that in perspective, that is 220 times more than the millionaire with his $10 million haul, who himself has 240 times more than the average earner in our county.
So for Trump, he “earned” a staggering 52,000 times more than many of our neighbors! That’s over $6 million dollars per day. No wonder he wants to cut taxes for his class.
Then there is the unethical and perhaps even illegal way he did it. The vast majority of it ($1.4 billion) came to him through his cryptocurrency ventures, which are structured to pay him fees and commissions no matter how they perform in the market.
And they have been bought up in great quantity by foreign governments, large corporations, individual oligarchs and just plain old supporters. Whether or not the crypto itself gains value is irrelevant to the first three categories.
They are in it for the favors and preferential treatment they can get from the president in exchange for those monetary investments. Not an old fashioned bribe, but a new a fangled one, all in plain sight, a master class in corrupt practices common in some other countries but never in the United States.
By comparison, Joe Biden is worth $10 million (real estate, book deals), Barack and Michelle Obama have $70 million (book and media deals, speaking engagements), and George Bush is worth $50 million (real estate, speaking tours).
So although the former presidents have indeed profited from their time in office, they did so after they left office and in ways that are legitimate. The current president is instead using his power of the presidency to satisfy his own greed at an unprecedented level, in activities that could be construed one day as criminal.
And in case you were wondering, Trump’s cryptocurrency has lost 98 percent in value since first offered and his WLF1 has dropped by 85 percent. Hardly anyone is complaining though because they got whatever favors they wanted from the president.
The silence on this issue from the MAGA crowd is deafening! Welcome to the real swamp!
Jane Huffaker
Mariposa
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