Obama loves his treasuries

[ahhrunforthehills]

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[FarmerD]

The thing that amazes me about Obama's income is his book royalties.  Exactly how does he make millions off his books?  Most writers get couple dollars for each book sold.  From his book income and an average writer's royalty, I estimate Obama has sold upwards of 4 million books!  That seems impossible.  

Wait - I just remembered.  He's not a average writer, he's a politician with his hand out.  Guess that explains where all the extra money came - I'm thinking Jim Wright, former speaker of the House, and all his "book deals."  Either that or he got an amazing percentage of royalties per book.  

[Storm]

The thing that amazes me about Obama's income is his book royalties.  Exactly how does he make millions off his books?  Most writers get couple dollars for each book sold.  From his book income and an average writer's royalty, I estimate Obama has sold upwards of 4 million books!  That seems impossible.  

Wait - I just remembered.  He's not a average writer, he's a politician with his hand out.  Guess that explains where all the extra money came - I'm thinking Jim Wright, former speaker of the House, and all his "book deals."  Either that or he got an amazing percentage of royalties per book.  

He's probably sold upwards of 20 million copies of his various books.  You sound kind of bitter.  He's a writer that sold a lot of books; what's wrong with that?  At least he's earning his own money instead of getting paid $millions for lobbying.

[MediumTex]

The thing that amazes me about Obama's income is his book royalties.  Exactly how does he make millions off his books?  Most writers get couple dollars for each book sold.  From his book income and an average writer's royalty, I estimate Obama has sold upwards of 4 million books!  That seems impossible.  

Wait - I just remembered.  He's not a average writer, he's a politician with his hand out.  Guess that explains where all the extra money came - I'm thinking Jim Wright, former speaker of the House, and all his "book deals."  Either that or he got an amazing percentage of royalties per book.  

He's probably sold upwards of 20 million copies of his various books.  You sound kind of bitter.  He's a writer that sold a lot of books; what's wrong with that?  At least he's earning his own money instead of getting paid $millions for lobbying.

If you go to any Walmart, Target, or chain bookstore you are likely to see multiple Obama-authored books featured prominently.

I can easily see this generating a lot of income.

I haven't bought any of these books, but I understand that others have. 

Obama is sort of like a political version of Suzy Orman, John Grisham or Dr. Phil--he probably just writes the same book over and over and calls it something different.

[ahhrunforthehills]

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[ahhrunforthehills]

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[MediumTex]

I'll bet that people who didn't like Obama to start with will have a bigger problem with the book arrangement than those who liked him to start with.

I just don't want this thread to turn into an anti-Obama/pro-Obama thing.

[moda0306]

That is pretty bad, IMO.

I doubt he would push for something like this for $70k given the possibility of negative headlines, but whoever's responsible should be repremanded, strongly... Tim, was it you?

[ahhrunforthehills]

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[Lone Wolf]

It is not uncommon from my limited understanding to buy books.  You gotta get around those limits on campaign contributions somehow   Looks like FarmerD was more realistic than bitter:

"State Dept. buys $70K of Obama books"

You know, I'd have forgiven the whole corrupt-looking book deal if this man's Permanent Portfolio weren't so badly out of balance.  How did the leader of the free world manage to let his gold allocation slip all the way to 0%?

I'm all for not checking one's portfolio too often, but this is just taking it too far.

[MediumTex]

If I wrote a book, I would "appreciate the support" of anyone who is willing to purchase it.  It's nothing against him.  In the sake of fairness he donated 14% of their income. That amounted to just over $245,000 which went to 36 different charities.

I just found it interesting that after becoming PRESIDENT he didn't change his investing strategy.  You would think that there would be at least SOMETHING in that morning briefing report.  Some hot stock tip SOMEWHERE

Or maybe he is just that bearish on our economy after-all   :-X

I would have assumed that his assets were in a blind trust.

[craigr]

I just found it interesting that after becoming PRESIDENT he didn't change his investing strategy.  You would think that there would be at least SOMETHING in that morning briefing report.  Some hot stock tip SOMEWHERE

Many high government officials may be required to run a blind trust. Meaning that he could probably direct the high level kind of investments he wanted, but doing direct stock trades is probably not allowed and/or would draw way too much attention to his activities.

EDIT: Tex beat me!

[MediumTex]

I just found it interesting that after becoming PRESIDENT he didn't change his investing strategy.  You would think that there would be at least SOMETHING in that morning briefing report.  Some hot stock tip SOMEWHERE

Many high government officials may be required to run a blind trust. Meaning that he could probably direct the overall kind of investing he wanted to do, but doing direct stock trades is probably not allowed and/or would draw way too much attention to his activities.

EDIT: Text beat me!

Dang!  I would sometimes swear that Craig and I were the same person if I didn't know that I'm not Craig.

...or maybe I am.

[FarmerD]

I guess i'm just not very keen on politicians making piles of money selling merchandise or "services." 

On the other hand, I have no problem if Craig and MedTex make $7,000,000 on their book.  In fact, I'd be elated.

[Reub]

It is not uncommon from my limited understanding to buy books.  You gotta get around those limits on campaign contributions somehow   Looks like FarmerD was more realistic than bitter:

"State Dept. buys $70K of Obama books"

You know, I'd have forgiven the whole corrupt-looking book deal if this man's Permanent Portfolio weren't so badly out of balance.  How did the leader of the free world manage to let his gold allocation slip all the way to 0%?

I'm all for not checking one's portfolio too often, but this is just taking it too far.

You can let your gold go down to zero if you plan on seizing everyone else's.....

[Storm]

I actually think it's heartening to know that a politician actually did an honest day's work at least once in his life.  It's not easy to sit down at the computer and bang out 300 pages.  I didn't read his books, and have no real interest in reading them, but I can appreciate that it takes a lot of dedication to pour your life out on paper like that.

[Lone Wolf]

You can let your gold go down to zero if you plan on seizing everyone else's.....

That sounds like the "FDR Portfolio" that was so popular in the 30s... 

[MediumTex]

It's not easy to sit down at the computer and bang out 300 pages.  I didn't read his books, and have no real interest in reading them, but I can appreciate that it takes a lot of dedication to pour your life out on paper like that.

You are right about that.

[Storm]

It's not easy to sit down at the computer and bang out 300 pages.  I didn't read his books, and have no real interest in reading them, but I can appreciate that it takes a lot of dedication to pour your life out on paper like that.

You are right about that.

You sound like you have a little experience with that... 

[FarmerD]

It's not easy to sit down at the computer and bang out 300 pages. 

Since Craig and MedTex are cranking a book out by the end of Q1, they are having to bust ass on this project.  That's very impressive to churn out a book that quick.  I hope forum members understand their committment of time and energy to this project. 

[ahhrunforthehills]

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[Jan Van]

On the other hand, I have no problem if Craig and MedTex make $7,000,000 on their book.  In fact, I'd be elated.

I won't. Unless they buy us all nice leather chaps!!!

[MediumTex]

On the other hand, I have no problem if Craig and MedTex make $7,000,000 on their book.  In fact, I'd be elated.

I won't. Unless they buy us all nice leather chaps!!!

Unless you are already a famous person, writing books is not typically a good money making strategy.

Writing books is sort of like playing music.  You can make a living at it, but few do.

[Jan Van]

Too bad you're too late to run for president and join the republican primaries. Seems to make for a good book publicity tour!

[MachineGhost]

Hiring a ghostwriter to write books in your name is a "honest day's work"?

So Obama osetensibly lost his head once he got rich.  That will explain the dichotomy between his Presidential actions and his allegiance to a party claiming to stand up for the working class.

You know what?  Screw it.  Lets tax the rich and redistribute the proceeds.  Because at this point, almost all of the rich are politicians and useless skidmarks on society.  I have no problem with that.

This isn't envy.  It's justice.

MG

I actually think it's heartening to know that a politician actually did an honest day's work at least once in his life.  It's not easy to sit down at the computer and bang out 300 pages.  I didn't read his books, and have no real interest in reading them, but I can appreciate that it takes a lot of dedication to pour your life out on paper like that.