One of Sarah Palin's claims during the debate was that she was "Joe Six-Pack" (shouldn't that be Jane Six-Pack?), part of her folksy, "I'm just like you, America" thing.
So I thought I'd find out just how much money she actually had.
In the past, I've never been terribly interested in Presidential candidates' financial disclosures. This is probably because I assume that if someone has reached a point where they can run for President or Vice-President of the United States, they probably have a few bucks. But when Palin made her claim at the debate last week, my curiosity was piqued.
Sarah Palin and her family seem to be on the lower end of the political wealth spectrum. According to their tax returns, "The Palins paid $22,721 in taxes on $166,080 adjusted gross income last year."
I couldn't open the PDF file provided by the McCampaign (here it is if you want to try: PDF link), so I dug a little more and found Palin's financial disclosure forms from when she ran for office in Alaska. In addition to her family's income, they have investments that look like they total about $200,000. I say "about" because the money is in various funds and the value fluctuates, especially these days. Plus the form is from 2007, so who knows what her money is in now. So maybe the value is between $100,000 and $200,000, depending on the day.
(Note: here is the site where I found the link to her return, which is available here as a PDF file.)
Does that make her rich? Not really. She has five children, and Bristol has one on the way. However, if you include "the estimated value of their property and investments…[the Palins] appear to be worth at least $1.2 million," according to ABC News. I admit that I'm not sure if this number is accurate, but it sounds plausible. Palin and her husband also have no credit card debt, unlike most Americans. Bottom line: even if you go with a low-ball estimate, the Palin family are not exactly living paycheck to paycheck.
What's the point of this exercise? Palin may claim to be "Joe Six-Pack", but I think she's more "Jane Case of Wine." That's fine with me, by the way. But why lie about it?
Image: ABC News
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