Biden Earned $21,000 From Secret Service
 

Although this is almost certainly legal, it sure doesn't look good. In addition, it's not surprising that the Bidens gave less than 1.5% of their income to charity. My experience is that the more liberal a person is, the less money they give to charity. If you know a person who is one of those angry, vocal liberals, there is about a 90% chance that that person gives little or no money to charity. Their loud vocals is nothing more than a hollow attempt to make up for their lack of deeds.



http://www.whitehousedossier.com/201...ecret-service/

Soon he will be off the ticket and Hillary will be added.

I don't understand why it doesn't look good. The Secret Service has done the same for past presidents who are in and out of office but still get taxpayer protections, and where agents are living on the property (Bush in Texas, Reagan in California, etc.) It's pretty standard procedure. The SS has to pay to put agents up somewhere. That it is on the property of the protected isn't any big deal.

"My experience is that the more conservative a person is, the less money they give to charity. If you know a person who is one of those angry, vocal Tea Partiers, there is about a 90% chance that that person gives little or no money to charity. Their loud vocals is nothing more than a hollow attempt to make up for their lack of deeds. "

"My experience is that the more purple a person is, the less money they give to charity. If you know a person who is one of those angry, vocal purple people, there is about a 90% chance that that person gives little or no money to charity. Their loud vocals is nothing more than a hollow attempt to make up for their lack of deeds. "

Yeah. The above statement sounds ridiculously, hyperbolicaly prejudiced no matter how it's phrased.

I don't care if it sounds ridiculous. That has been my experience. I'm not claiming that non-religious conservatives are very charitable. The most charitable people tend to be religious conservatives, regardless of income. That is a fact.

I don't think you understood the irony of my post. Nobody would expect angry, vocal tea-party members to be charitable. I don't know if they are charitable but there would be no expectation for them to be. They're not out there yelling about wanting to help poor people. Angry liberals, on the other hand, are making all this noise about how much they care about poor people, yet when it comes to putting their money where their mouth is, they don't do it.

Do you know for a fact that Bush charges the agents rent?

The only "angry liberals" I tend to see were those sticking flowers in the barrels of National Guard rifles in the 1960's :D

And you always have those anarchists trying to incite revolution ;)

It's not that Bush (or Reagan, or Carter, or Ford, etc.) charges, it's that the government pays, be it a local hotel, or a rented house, etc.

I don't expect a retired president, even if they have a big compound type of place with guest rooms or guest houses, to put up government agents for free, just because they have the space, simply because they are getting SS protection. And the government doesn't ask them to. We pay to put up our agents there, if it's available, as we should.

Regarding donations: eliminate all church tithes, and I wonder what "charitable donations" really look like?

I understand that the government will pay rent for SS agents. But if the SS agents stay on the property I don't know if the host always accepts rent from the government. I don't know the answer to that and I don't think you do either. We don't know if Bush is getting paid rent right now from the SS.

If that is always done, then it's really not an issue. The author of the article should have made it clear whether rent is normally paid to the person being protected if the SS agents stay on their property. That is the problem with half these news stories. The author (whether conservative or liberal) almost always has an agenda and will usually only tell you half the story. They give you the half that furthers their agenda, which I think is very unethical and dishonest.

Right, and they all knowingly do it...and know their audience...

Unlike Obama and many other members of Congress, Joe Biden is not a millionaire. When he was vetted for VP by the Obama team, they were surprised by how little the Bidens have accumulated during his second marriage (after his first wife died). They live pretty simply for "Washington elite" (actually, Biden lives in Delaware and famously commutes to Washington via train)

President Obama's 2011 charitable gifts, from his 2011 return:



http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/0...geous-Donation

I can't knock Obama's charitable donations. I think he gave a generous amount (in terms of both amount and percentage of his income).

I'm not saying that Biden should have given $25,000. As you said, he's not rich. But I think he could give a little more than 1 1/2%. For someone who is a democrat and claims to care about helping people, I think 1 1/2% is a little stingy.

$21000 is a lot more than $47...

Isn't he Catholic? What did he tithe to his church?

I do think Biden is a good example of someone who went to Washington to do good, and didn't change to doing well. He's not a lobbyist, he's not out to make money, he's just an average guy who lost his family and rebuilt a life.

When you give money to your church, that is considered a charitable donation. You can write that off. That would appear on his taxes. He must not have given any money to his church, unless he occasionally threw a $10 or $20 bill into the tithe basket. Most people who are going to put more than $5 in the tithe basket, will use a check rather than cash, so that they can get the deduction on their taxes.

I'll let Biden have this one: if someone - even if it's the Secret Service protecting him - is housed in his rental housing, they can pay, and he can charge.

I don't care much what charities other people give to, or don't give to. It's their business. If you earn your money (legally), you can do whatever the (legal) heck you want with it. You can feed poor children or purchase sold gold toilets. Your choice. I don't resent Trump, or Romney, or Buffett, or Jobs, or Gates, in the least because they are wealthy, and may do with their money something I would never do. It's their money.

I agree that people can do what they want with their money. However if a person is a somewhat liberal politician and they are always talking about how much they care about poor people, I would think they would be putting their money where their mouth is.

This is quite scientific. Thanks for sharing.