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Each snippet is too brief and breazy to have much redeeming value. For instance while Washington was the richest man in the 13 colonies at the time of the Revol

Each snippet is too brief and breazy to have much redeeming value. For instance while Washington was the richest man in the 13 colonies at the time of the Revolution, he was land-rich and controlled some significant means of production, but like everyone else in the colonies he would have difficulty raising cash. Also it's easy to overlook the significance of the several presidents, Lincoln included, whose peak assets, including the equity in their residences, was less than $1 million in today's money. Can you imagine electing a president like that today? Also note how they are clustered around the Civil War. I don't know what the significance of that is, if any.

scott_s 16y ago
I can't find anything on what Clinton's worth was before he became president, but I don't think it was that much. My understanding is that most of his wealth came after.
- _delirium 16y ago
  This article claims that the Clintons' net worth in 1992 was $700k (about $1m in 2010 dollars), most of it from Hillary: http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/moneymag_archive/1992/07/01/87389/index.htm http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/moneymag_archive/199... So, not poor, but as far as I can tell, the lowest starting net worth of any recent president. I had thought Carter might have been poor too, but apparently his peanut farming wasn't a tiny operation: he had a net worth of $811,000 in 1975, or $3.2m in 2010 dollars, according to the footnote at the end of: http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,947792,00.html http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,947792,00.html Ford is another candidate, but I can't seem to find info on his 1974-or-earlier net worth. Edit: Ford's net worth in "late 1973" was apparently $256,000, or $1.2m in 2010 dollars. So that'd put him roughly on par with Clinton. Source: http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/moneymag_archive/1999/07/01/262278/index.htm http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/moneymag_archive/199...
techiferous 16y ago
"Each snippet is too brief and breezy" "Obama is the grandson of a goat herder." -- brief, yet complete.
jonknee 16y ago
> Also it's easy to overlook the significance of the several presidents, Lincoln included, whose peak assets, including the equity in their residences, was less than $1 million in today's money. Can you imagine electing a president like that today? I think a more interesting list would be net worth on the day they were inaugurated the first time. Lincoln never got a chance to make money after office, but many others did. In the modern era much of the money has kicked in after office.

scott_s 16y ago

I can't find anything on what Clinton's worth was before he became president, but I don't think it was that much. My understanding is that most of his wealth came after.

_delirium 16y ago
This article claims that the Clintons' net worth in 1992 was $700k (about $1m in 2010 dollars), most of it from Hillary: http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/moneymag_archive/1992/07/01/87389/index.htm http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/moneymag_archive/199... So, not poor, but as far as I can tell, the lowest starting net worth of any recent president. I had thought Carter might have been poor too, but apparently his peanut farming wasn't a tiny operation: he had a net worth of $811,000 in 1975, or $3.2m in 2010 dollars, according to the footnote at the end of: http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,947792,00.html http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,947792,00.html Ford is another candidate, but I can't seem to find info on his 1974-or-earlier net worth. Edit: Ford's net worth in "late 1973" was apparently $256,000, or $1.2m in 2010 dollars. So that'd put him roughly on par with Clinton. Source: http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/moneymag_archive/1999/07/01/262278/index.htm http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/moneymag_archive/199...

techiferous 16y ago

"Each snippet is too brief and breezy" "Obama is the grandson of a goat herder." -- brief, yet complete.

jonknee 16y ago

> Also it's easy to overlook the significance of the several presidents, Lincoln included, whose peak assets, including the equity in their residences, was less than $1 million in today's money. Can you imagine electing a president like that today? I think a more interesting list would be net worth on the day they were inaugurated the first time. Lincoln never got a chance to make money after office, but many others did. In the modern era much of the money has kicked in after office.