Negative value of politicians....

I was just reading over the Wikipedia entry about Obama and noticed this paragraph...

Obama met his future wife, Michelle Robinson, in 1988 when he was employed as a summer associate at the Chicago law firm of Sidley & Austin.[152] Assigned for three months as Obama's adviser at the firm, Robinson joined him at group social functions, but declined his initial offers to date.[153] They began dating later that summer, became engaged in 1991, and were married in October 1992.[154] The couple's first daughter, Malia Ann, was born in 1998, followed by a second daughter, Natasha ("Sasha"), in 2001.[155] Applying the proceeds of a $2 million book deal, the family paid off debts in 2005 and moved from a Hyde Park, Chicago condominium to their current $1.6-million house in neighboring Kenwood.[156] The sellers had insisted on the simultaneous sale of an ajacent lot, which was sold to politically connected developer Tony Rezko's wife at the full asking price after Obama gave Rezko a tour of his intended purchase, on which Obama negotiated a lower price than asked. This, and the later sale to Obama of a strip of the Rezko lot, has proved controversial. Obama has denied that he violated any laws but admitted that the latter deal was "boneheaded".[157] In December 2007, Money magazine estimated the Obama family's net worth at $1.3 million.[158]

So tell me, how does one get a $2 million book deal just dropped into their lap? I would like to get in on that myself......

And even with their "current $1.6-million house", the Obama family's net worth is only $1.3 million? In effect the value of the family must be a NEGATIVE value, since it has made the TOTAL value less than the value of the house alone........

And even with their "current $1.6-million house", the Obama family's net worth is only $1.3 million? In effect the value of the family must be a NEGATIVE value, since it has made the TOTAL value less than the value of the house alone........

Your net worth is the value of your assets less your consumer debt.

I think he probably got that book deal after he gave a somewhat famous speech at the '04 Democratic Convention. He got a lot of "ohhhs" and "ahhhs" over that speech. In fact, I would bet if not for that speech, he would not be a presidential candidate right now.

I have no idea about the net worth stuff.

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