DebateGate
General Category => 3DHS => Topic started by: Xavier_Onassis on June 14, 2015, 02:00:56 PM
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He has not been all that great at managing his own money.
He charged a paving job at his home to the Republican Party's Charge card.
Sen. Rubio’s money woes worrisome
Carl Hiaasen
Marco Rubio has a good backstory, and he enjoys telling it.
Hardworking immigrant parents, humble beginnings in South Florida — and now he’s a U.S. senator running for president at age 44.
It’s a stirring, up-by-the-bootstraps tale, if you leave out the credit-card mix-ups, unpaid mortgage and $80,000 speedboat.
On the campaign trail, Rubio promises in scolding tones to rein in government spending, yet in his personal life he has displayed absolutely no talent for managing money.
The idea of him sitting in the Oval Office with billions at stake is a little scary. To believe that prudence and competence will suddenly bloom when he gets a crack at the federal budget is optimistic in the extreme.
Rubio’s struggles to handle his own checkbook have been well chronicled by this newspaper and other Florida media. A few years ago he was caught nicking the state Republican Party’s American Express card for more than $16,000 in personal expenses, including travel to a family reunion and a paving job at his home.
Rubio said he accidentally took out the wrong credit to pay for the stone pavers, and that a travel agent mistakenly billed the GOP account for the reunion charges. All the money was repaid after reporters started asking questions.
While in the state Legislature, where he eventually became Speaker of the House, Rubio set up political-action committees. One of them gave him thousands of dollars in reimbursements for auto expenses, gas and phone bills. That PAC was, on paper, run by his wife.
Rubio also jointly bought a house in Tallahassee with his close pal, then-state representative and future U.S. congressman David Rivera, one of the sleaziest slugs to ever attain public office in South Florida.
During one stretch, Rubio and Rivera went five months without making any mortgage payments and were threatened with foreclosure.
Two weeks ago, they finally unloaded the house at an $18,000 loss. (Rubio no longer hangs out with Rivera, who is the subject of a federal corruption investigation.)
In his first book, the senator freely admitted his financial problems and mistakes.
Ironically, the books have brought him more income than anything else, including his seldom-used law degree.
In 2012, he received $800,000 to write about his experience as the son of Cuban immigrants. Rubio has proudly said that he used some of that money to pay off his law school loans.
He doesn’t often talk about what else he spent the book money on: a 24-foot speedboat that cost $80,000. The purchase came to light last week, when the New York Times took a fresh look at Rubio’s finances.
We get it about the boat. You live in Miami, you want to channel your inner Sonny Crockett on Biscayne Bay.
That’s terrific, if you can afford it.
Not so terrific if you’re trying to build a nest egg for your young family.
Reviewing Rubio’s financial disclosure forms, the Times found that he earned $2.38 million from 1998 to 2008, yet he saved so little that his net worth at the end of that 10-year period was only about $53,000.
This is a man who spends money when he gets his hands on it.
Which lots and lots of regular folks do. The difference is, they don’t want to be president, and they don’t pretend to be qualified to decide our national fiscal policy.
To Rubio’s credit, during the last three years his savings have grown by about $150,000, boosted by a second hefty book deal. He and his wife have opened college accounts for their four kids and refinanced their main residence, reducing the monthly mortgage payments.
You see that and think maybe the senator’s growing up. Maybe he’s getting money-managing tips from Norman Braman, the auto tycoon who employs Rubio’s wife and is also his biggest campaign donor.
Then you see other moves and think nothing’s changed.
Last year Rubio closed a retirement account holding $68,000 in savings. Most financial advisers would never tell a client to do that, because the taxes and early-withdrawal fees are so high.
Article by Carl Hiaasen in the Miami Herald.
There’s no reason to cash out a retirement account at age 44 unless you’re totally clueless, or frantic for money. Depending on Rubio’s income bracket, his loss in taxes and penalties was $24,000 or more.
That’s a brutal hit, and for what?
Rubio said he needed to use his retirement fund for personal expenses associated with his upcoming presidential campaign — and also a new refrigerator.
Unless Sub-Zero makes a gold-plated model, he paid too much.
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If the Clinton experience is any guide, the presidency will make him a millionaire quickly.
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Clinton did not get to be a millionaire all that quickly.
He is a great speaker, among other things.
In my opinion, Rubio is not likely to make it through to the nomination.
Rubio got over two million in income and after ten years, all he had left were around $50,000. I wonder if he has a gambling problem.
He cashed in his retirement, ostensibly to run for president and to buy a new fridge. He had to pay some stiff penalties, around $20K to do this.
I do not think we actually want the country run the way Rubio runs his own life.
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Did Clinton run the country the way he ran his household?
Did Clinton even make a distinction between the two?
How can I even tell that M. Rubio's money problems are not being exaggerated in the same way that B. Clintons have been minimized?
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This is what this is really about:
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2015/06/14/liberals_fear_marco_rubio_126971.html
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The figures are accurate, as Rubio does not challenge them. This is entirely unrelated to Clinton. No one is afraid of Rubio, that is crap.
That is what sounds like unproven propaganda.
The guy charged an expensive trip for his entire family on a GOP credit card, and then charged cement work on the same card. It was only after he got caught at it that he actually paid his bills on his own, Had the Miami Herald not run the story, he would have let the GOP pay for his crap.
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This is what this is really about:
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2015/06/14/liberals_fear_marco_rubio_126971.html
Is it any wonder that the left keeps validating Krauthammer's commentary on how Rubio scares the snot out of the Democrats? 8)
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No one is validating crap.
Krauthammer is a dolt, only the right wingers pay him any attention.
The fact is, Rubio is terrible at managing money, he ignores traffic signs and lights and speed limits. He is what was once called in Cuba a "señorito".
There is in Spain what could be described as a señorito class, often Andalusian. The señorito andaluz is from a well-off family, does not work, and is only interested in enjoying himself.
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..............................a "señorito".
Is this better understood as "little Mister" or "small Master"?
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he ignores traffic signs and lights and speed limits.
yes 4 traffic tickets for Marco Rubio in 17 years is just unacceptable!
Liberal Jon Stewart on Rubio "phony NY Times scandals"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBNb7aHKHaU
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No one is validating crap.
Of course you are. He must scare the beejeebees out of you guys, because of all the mountains you're trying to make out of molehills. Seriously, look at the hyperbole, 4 tickets in 17 years is some major flagrant law breaking?? So, you'd rather he be chauffeured everywhere, like one of the "middle class regular folks". Oh wait, that's your gal. He buys a fishing boat with his own money, and somehow he's some massive big spender of million dollar yachts?? You'd rather he be chartered everywhere on the tax payer's dime? Oh yea, that's Hillary again. The way you guys try to tear him as some uber-rich kid, make it sound like he has his own foundation where he can take in billions from foreign interests & uber-rich donors. Oh wait, that'd be Hill again
You see, everything you're trying to paint Rubio with, Hillary has it, in spades. But she has the right letter after her name, which of course, justifies the rank hypocrisy
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SIRS....it's all about this.
They realize they have a looming disaster on their hands
and need to try to help this terribly flawed candidate.
http://www.bizpacreview.com/2015/06/14/hillarys-epic-fail-where-were-the-adoring-throngs-for-her-campaigns-new-launch-213692
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It's so transparent. Notice the overt effort to make this ONLY about Rubio. Hillary is not allowed to be brought into the conversation......because, when the comparison is made......I mean, it really becomes laughable when the claim is made about politicians going to the highest bidder. Last I checked, Rubio doesn't have a foundation that has taken in billions from massive rich donors, foreign interests, even foreign governments. Noooooo, we need to focus on 4 fricken parking tickets as the end all for being disqualified to be President :o
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No one said one damned thing about parking tickets. And this is NOT ABOUT HILLARY.
If you hire a lawyer to defend your tickets, it does not go on your record. If you know somebody, the infraction can be erased. Rubio knew LOTS of influential people and lawyers and even with all that, he got four tickets, after all the usual machinations had been exhausted.
How is it that Rubio using the Republican Party credit cards for his own home improvements, and his own spendthrift ways not say something about his ability to manage money? Rubio is a taker.
And he is NOT running against Hillary at this point: he is running against Jebbie, Christie, Graham, Walker and a dozen more fellow Republicans.
At this moment the issue is what sort of candidate he'd make. All this stuff and probably more will come out before the primaries are over.
Krauthammer's record at predictions tend to be waaaay off.
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he got four tickets
in 17 years!
OMG!
(http://images.clipartpanda.com/rolling-on-the-floor-laughing-smiley-face-roflol.gif)
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And this is NOT ABOUT HILLARY.
LOL....see what I mean?
4 Fricken tickets, over 17years, and that's what should disqualify him from being President of the U.S. And the cherry is that he didn't use his inflence to get them removed from his record......oh the horror!!
Do you see how bassackward you're being, where you expect a politican to push his position to get something removed. Here's a newsflash, THAT's where the biggest scandal takes place.....THE COVER-UP. If he was found to have used his influence to remove tickets from his record, you'd be going apesnot over that. But instead, you're condemning him for NOT using his influence :o
As far as a Candiate makes, the more the left foams at the mouth, demonstrates just how excellent a candidate he would make. When you consider every desperate piece of hyperbolic garbage you try to stick to him, is plastered all over the Democrat's top nominee.....ESPECIALLY (per YOUR parameters) AS IT RELATES TO THE WORST...SELLING SELF TO THE HIGHEST BIDDER. And if "the issue is what kind of candidate she would make", I think you're doing a swell job of providing the appropriate comparisons
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My assumption is that he DID hire an attorney and not get the first tickets put on his record, and that he also exhausted the contacts he had to get them removed.
That is par for the course in Miami.
A neighbor of mine with no political contacts at all got seven tickets for DUI before one of them appeared on his record. It cost him around ten grand and he attended traffic school twice to keep the first six ticket off his record.
I live here and I know how it works. You don't and you can't.
Far more important is how he has pissed away his money like a sailor on shore leave.
Winston Churchill was probably too drunk to drive most of his life, but he was so rich he always had a chauffeur, so DUI's and other bad driving are not all that relevant to the suitability of a candidate for president.
"Conservatives" are always talking about FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITY, and prettyboy Rubio does not seem to have a lot of this.
The guy knocks down over $2,000,000 in salary and after decades he has not managed to save even $100K for retirement?
Cashing in all you have put away for retirement, and paying a $20K penalty for getting $24K to keep: is that responsible?
To actually claim to be a CONSERVATIVE, doesn't it require at least conserving your own resources?
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Your assumptions, speculation, and guesses, aside, the fact is he's only had 4 fricken tickets in a span of 17 years, and there's no proof he tried to use his connections to get them removed from his record. In fact, your condemning him from NOT using his connections to get them removed. Again, how bassackward is that
And with the debt that this President is ringing up, all by himself, compared to EVERY OTHER PRESIDENT COMBINED, gives you no standing to complain about someone else's finances. Especially since that's not the primary function of the president. That'd be his Treasury Secretary and Congress. President merely signs the bills sent to his desk
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I am not responsible the the national debt, you insufferable twit. Every president since Eisenhower has increased the national debt. The current president was faced with increasing the debt or see the country suffer a rerun of the Great Depression,and people of all political and economical persuasions admit that this was essential. But we are not discussing the past or Hillary, we are discussing the profligate lifestyle of Marco Rubio.
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I am not responsible the the national debt, you insufferable twit.
Speaking of insuffrable Dr Deflection, who ever claimed you were solely responsible for it? Hmmmmmmm??
Every president since Eisenhower has increased the national debt. The current president was faced with increasing the debt or see the country suffer a rerun of the Great Depression,
So, when Bush ran a fraction of debt, to this President, then Candidate Obama proclaimed such debt as literally unpatriotic. Again, see how hypocritically upside-down you guys are?
...and people of all political and economical persuasions admit that this was essential.
No...and no. That was NOT required or universally agreed upon. In fact, those policies have literally put a wet blanket on a recevery that has been beyond pitiful. Reagan had a similar economic disaster, that he ineherited, and did just the opposite of Obama.....and tax revenues surged, as we pulled out of the economic mess Carter saddled us with, in not only half the time, but with exponential job growth
But we are not discussing the past or Hillary, we are discussing the profligate lifestyle of Marco Rubio.
Umm, yes we are. Hillary's simply a bigger target, given her net worth is double that of even even Bush. Yea, that's right, that so-called person of the people, that so called connection to the middle class is worth double good 'ol Jeb. IN FACT, of all the candidates running, she had the highest net worth But its funny....Romney was too rich to know what its like to be a middle class American or connect to them, but Hillary, in her chauffered limos over the last 2+ decades, chartered jets, and 21+million dollar net worth is right there with "the people"
That baggage just keeps getting heavier and heavier
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Since the Democrats seem to already be settled on Hillary(it is her turn).
It is important to consider how a prospective Republican stacks up to her.
One of her strengths is the ability to spend more than two billion dollars on campaigning.
Should we choose a candidate that can't match this there will be a severe disadvantage.
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The Bush FAMILY is richer than the proverbial Croesus: there is no comparison with Clinton or any of the rest, with perhaps the exception of Romney or that clown, Trump.
We will not know how much money is being spent on campaigns this year, because the idiot Supreme Court made it possible for contributors to remain anonymous. The wealth of the candidate is not any sort of absolute issue. FDR was richer than most of those who ran against him, and he related far more to the average American.
No matter who is chosen, the odds are that they have been financed by people you would not like if you knew who they were.
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lol....and here I thought this was about Rubio....and "Rubio only". amazing how the bar keeps changing ;)
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It is really about Rubio, but there you went changing the subject.
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Apparently not since now you're harping on Jeb, when Hillary's net worth is 2x his. It's truly challenging to keep up with your floating parameters
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Rubio is clearly a suckup to the real estate swindlers that run Miami Dade County. He simply sucks up to a different bunch of them than Jebbie.
YOU are the one that thinks this is all about your irrational Hillary Hatred.
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Your opinion of "clearly", is right up there with "obvious", as in neither are supported by actual facts. The fact you can't seem to deal with has nothing to do with anyone's hatred....it has to do with your gal being the current version of Romney of the Democrat party. Her net worth double that of Jeb, and 20x that of Rubio. And those are facts
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Is remembering Hillary's failures faults and fabrications ,"irrational Hillary Hatred"?
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fabricating all this crap is precisely that.
Hillaryhate has been a keystone of the ratbag right ever since Bill Clinton was elected. Hillary is an apostate, a former Republican that has joined the other side after seeing the light.
Just as the ratbag right campaigned for forty years to make "Liberal" a dirty word, they have campaigned at least twenty to make Hillary a dirty word.
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fabricating all this crap is precisely that.
And what specifically is being "fabricated"? (this should be good)
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*cue the crickets*
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If Marco cannot manage his own finances, how can he manage the country's?
I do not give a shit about your Hillary crap. It is uninmportant to me.
Go eat your damned crickets, you dolt.
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So, where are those made up Hillary fabrications you were just harping on?? Don't tell me that was.....*gasp*.....your own fabrication. :o
(oh news flash....The president appoints someone to handle the country's finances, via the Treasury Secretary, and Congress is actually in charge of the country's finances. So, we can put that Rubio smear to bed)
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Next you will be telling me that the President can be illiterate as well.
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Ahh, Dr Deflection pulls out the ridiculous hyperoble card. Bravo. Of course, you might be on to something. Our current President obviously hasn't read our Constitution
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So if Rubio cannot balance his checkbook or even save for his retirement, that's okay.
All he has to do is get elected president and if he needs a little more cash, he can hike the admission price to the Marco Rubio Presidential Library.
Or perhaps give a speech to some corporation. Or do what Nixon and Ford did: move every year because lots of rich guys want to live in a former presidential mansion.
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One more time...even if Rubio couldn't, which I'm sure he could, he has a Treasury Secretary and Congress that handles the country's finances. You seriously think Hillary is in charge of her millions?? :o You've got a screw loose if you actually believe that
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So, where are those made up Hillary fabrications you were just harping on?? Don't tell me that was.....*gasp*.....your own fabrication. :o
Didn't think so. Time for you to go into deflection mode, once again. Personal insult....perhaps more irrelevent Rubio smears about his personal finances. Anything to avoid supporting your OWN apparently invalid accusation
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People who have lots of money have advisers.
Some do this well, others give it all to a guy like Madoff.
Rubio has little to recommend him but a pretty face, a record of winning elections and the ability to suck up to the rich.
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You mean like Hillary, just without the pretty face. Oh, and thanks for validating that your accusation of fabrications was itself a fabrication. ;-)
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So if Rubio cannot even save for his retirement, that's okay.
So it bothers you if Romney is wealthy,
but it also bothers you if Rubio is not wealthy.
It bothers you if Romney is wealthy,
but does not bother you if Hillary is wealthy.
If bothers you if Rubio is broke entering office,
but it doesn't bother you if Hillary says they were broke.
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Why should it bother me if Hillary says she was broke? I think she meant that they had no place to live and no readily fungible assets.
I didn't believe that and I still don't.
But if a politicians leaves office broke, how is that a bad thing?
Presidente Mujica of Uruguay left office with no more than he entered with.
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What's "bothersome" is your embrace of the double standard, xo. Romney is bad, because he's wealthy, but Hillary isn't. Rubio is bad because he doesn't have that much money, but Hillary isn't when she claimed she was broke. And the most twisted being that Romney is bad because he's wealthy, but Rubio is bad because he's not
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Why should it bother me if Hillary says she was broke? I think she meant that they had no place to live and no readily fungible assets.
I didn't believe that and I still don't.
But if a politicians leaves office broke, how is that a bad thing?
Presidente Mujica of Uruguay left office with no more than he entered with.
It is bothersome because it is opposite the truth, she sais what she thinks we want to hear , but political office has made the Clintons wealthy.
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In this country, anyone can get rich by being a halfway interesting celebrity. Getting elected president makes a person a celebrity. The country is crawling with celebrities that are only famous for being famous: Paris Hilton, the Kardassians, winners of reality TV survivors.
It is not the only way: Gerald Ford and Richard Nixon sold houses and moved often. Any house occupied by them at least doubled in value. They can ghost write books, serve on corporate boards, become spokespersons for charities.
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As long as they only take honest graft.