You shouldn’t be able to get rich working in government, but don’t tell that to Barack Obama’s staffers. Per a report by ABC News, a number of them cashed in on their connections to high-ranking Democrats to become fabulously wealthy.
According to ABC News’ analysis of the most recent disclosure reports, many of Biden’s top White House officials, including Chief of Staff Ron Klain, Domestic Policy Council Director Susan Rice, National Economic Council Director Brian Deese, and coronavirus response coordinator Jeff Zients, have substantially multiplied their wealth over the past few years.
…Domestic Policy Council Director Susan Rice is among the wealthiest in the Biden White House team. Rice has substantially increased her wealth since her previous White House job, reporting between $36 million and $149 million in various assets, according to her latest disclosure report released Saturday.
…White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain has also reportedly increased his wealth by millions since 2009, ABC reported. Klain reported receiving $2 million in salary from venture capital firm Revolution LLC in 2020, as opposed to the $1 million he reported in 2009.
….Coronavirus response coordinator Jeff Zients reported on Saturday that he owns between $89.3 million and $442.8 million in assets, which include different investment funds, real estate properties, and $1 million worth of shares in Facebook, where he has served as a board member. Zients has more than doubled his wealth since he joined the Obama White House as the deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget in 2009.
So, interesting question; why are these people being paid so much money or, at a minimum, getting huge increases over what they made before they worked for Obama? For the same reason that Hunter Biden was paid extraordinary amounts of money just to be involved in deals. Connections. If this country embraced small government and merit, experience in the White House wouldn’t necessarily be a huge income multiplier. However, in the Ayn Randian nightmare world we live in now, where the government has inserted its tentacles into everything and who you know in DC is often more important than what you bring to the table, that experience is worth a lot. Being able to pick up the phone and get Joe, the Obamas, Nancy Pelosi, AOC, etc is worth a lot of money. It may mean you get government contacts, that some regulatory agency is told to back off or you get the inside scoop on some new regulation that could cost or make you a lot of money. When you see big money pouring into the pockets of former government officials like this, it’s a bad sign about the health of the country you live in.
John Hawkins is the author of 101 Things All Young Adults Should Know. His website is Linkiest and you can follow him on Parler here.
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