The all-American working man demeanor of Tim Walz—Kamala Harris’s new running mate—looks like it’s not just an act.

Financial disclosures show Tim Walz barely has any assets to his name. No stocks, bonds, or even property to call his own. Together with his wife, Gwen, his net worth is $330,000, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal citing financial disclosures from 2019, the year after he became Minnesota governor.

With that kind of meager nest egg, he would be more or less in line with the median figure for Americans his age (he’s 60), and even poorer than the average. One in 15 Americans is a millionaire, a recent UBS wealth report discovered.

Meanwhile, the gross annual income of Walz and his wife, Gwen, amounted to $166,719 before tax in 2022, according to their joint return filed that same year. Walz is even entitled to earn more than the $127,629 salary he receives as state governor, but he has elected not to receive the roughly $22,000 difference.

“Walz represents the stable middle class,” tax lawyer Megan Gorman, who authored a book on the personal finances of U.S. presidents, told the paper.

-1 points

Million dollars is nothing much today. One can’t even retire with that kind of money. Housing/tuition/health care costs have outpaced earnings.

If that report is true Walz will have to work until he dies. That’s dumb. Bernie on the other hand is smart and has made money inspire of his very poor upbringing.

permalink
report
reply
21 points

Please don’t call people dumb for having less than $1m.

permalink
report
parent
reply
-12 points
*

If someone is earning 100k+ and doesn’t have to pay for housing, food, medical bills, and transportation (like the governor)but still can’t save. Yes that is dumb.

permalink
report
parent
reply
10 points

I don’t know, maybe he had a lot of debt from when he was a teacher, maybe he gives money to charity. I just don’t think it’s ok to call people dumb for not being millionaires.

permalink
report
parent
reply
1 point

Or, he just has to retire to a LCOL state. Like Minnesota…

permalink
report
parent
reply
13 points

The average net worth is skewed by a rich minority and WAY richer super minority. Let’s see the median.

permalink
report
reply
69 points

It literally says in the post that his net worth is roughly equal to the median.

permalink
report
parent
reply
-16 points

Median for his age

permalink
report
parent
reply
44 points

Of course it’s age adjusted. What good does it do to compare accumulated wealth between a 60 year old and an 18 year old?

permalink
report
parent
reply
21 points

I get irritated to an irrationally high degree when someone literally only reads the headline and decides right then what their opinion is and that it needs to be shared with the world. Like they wouldn’t even have had to check out the link, it’s right in the post.

permalink
report
parent
reply
9 points

Let’s see the median.

The average American family has a $1.063 million net worth, according to Federal Reserve data. But the median net worth is $192,900.Jul 23, 2024

source

permalink
report
parent
reply
17 points

The median is linked right in the article.

For ages 55-64 it’s $364,500

permalink
report
parent
reply
-19 points

This does gloss over the multiple pensions, doesn’t it?

permalink
report
reply
39 points
*
Deleted by creator
permalink
report
parent
reply
-1 points
*

That isn’t what the parent comment stated. If I had a pension I’d include it in my net worth. It should be included if it wasn’t. Missing something like a retirement account or pension (most people’s highest value asset) will just allow people to dismiss these figures (regardless of how little the impact would be).

Edit: based upon replies it looks like I wasn’t clear in my comment. I’m not saying that including the pension changes the point of the article. But by leaving information out it might give some people an excuse to dismiss the whole thing.

permalink
report
parent
reply
7 points

The significance is that he doesn’t control how his pension is funded. It’s not like he has a vested interest in one company succeeding by having a bunch of stock there, and he’s been in politics since the aughts. It’s refreshing when compared to other congressmen

permalink
report
parent
reply
8 points
*
Deleted by creator
permalink
report
parent
reply
5 points

But pension typically isn’t included in net worth unless it’s unspent money, and given how small the average public school teacher’s pension is in comparison to their expenses, wouldn’t you agree it makes little sense to say his pension automatically should be added to his net worth?

A couple grand a month is what I expect a retired teacher to get for their pension. And a couple grand a month is what I expect a retired teacher to spend on rent/mortgage + food + other expenses.

permalink
report
parent
reply
5 points

Future pension payments are income, not net worth.

permalink
report
parent
reply
-2 points

2 teachers, military and Congress. I’m not saying they’re billionaires, or even that they’re closer to one than normal.

permalink
report
parent
reply
5 points
*
Deleted by creator
permalink
report
parent
reply
2 points

Only the portion of a pension income that is not spent is included as a part of net worth. Given the average expenses of a 60 year old and the piss poor pension of the average schoolteacher, I imagine there would hardly be any money of his pension that isn’t spent and is considered part of his net worth, no?

permalink
report
parent
reply
3 points

If I had an investment account that would give me $10k per year, it would be worth about $125k. If I was entitled to $10k a year through a pension, wouldnt it be fair to say that entitlement is an asset that’s worth (at least a portion of) that same value?

permalink
report
parent
reply
6 points
*

Is that money being spent, or saved? If it’s being spent in a year on regular expenses, how would that contribute to net worth?

Most peoples’ pension is spent, not saved, because it’s meant to replace their working income in order to allow them to pay the bills. In Walz’ case, is it at all similar to the example you gave? Like come on, let’s not enter fluentinfinance levels of hypotheticals.

permalink
report
parent
reply
1 point
*
Deleted by creator
permalink
report
parent
reply
41 points
*

Yeah he and his wife both have a teachers pensions, so what? They earned it working as teachers their whole lives. We should bring real pensions back for every American anyway, not this 401k shlock.

permalink
report
parent
reply
6 points

They did and we should.

permalink
report
parent
reply
-5 points
*
Removed by mod
permalink
report
reply
-7 points
*
Removed by mod
permalink
report
parent
reply
4 points

You’re allowed to question things and other people are allowed to disagree with the downvote button. What’s the problem? Are you seriously trying to pretend you’re being cancelled because (checks notes) fewer than ten people disagree with you? That’s some persecution complex right there, that is.

permalink
report
parent
reply
0 points
*
Removed by mod
permalink
report
parent
reply
9 points

It’s in his financial disclosures and it is literally a crime to lie in those. Why would he lie?

permalink
report
parent
reply
-2 points

Crime is illegal, that’s why no one does it.

permalink
report
parent
reply
2 points

There is literally no upside though

It’s such a pessimistic view on this.

permalink
report
parent
reply
-5 points
*

Just in hypothetical, if you have illicit earning, you probably won’t declare them.

Edit: this comment seems unpopular, but it has happened in the past. If somebody could tell me why it’s so wrong I would appreciate

permalink
report
parent
reply
5 points

That’s not how logic works. You don’t get to make a claim then demand to be disproven. The burnden of proof is on you, and if the best you have is “idk seems like it could happen” then you have fuck all

permalink
report
parent
reply
-7 points
*
Removed by mod
permalink
report
parent
reply
105 points

It’s almost as if the wholesome, good Christians became progressive labor supporters while the degenerate pseudo-Christians became asmondgold, otk and people like mr. beast, and the fucked up christians became maga nazi fascists.

permalink
report
reply
14 points

Wow, you are 100% dead-on right. Be prepared for downvotes though, because you claimed the existence of good religious people here!

permalink
report
parent
reply
24 points

I’ve met a surprising number of “good religious people”, but it’s not surprising most people think they don’t exist. I think this phenomenon transcends religion though

In the case of good Christians, the one unifying quality all of them have is they aren’t loud, and they aren’t pushy about it. They live their lives with a set of fundamental values and are always willing to go out of their way to help a neighbor. If it weren’t for the symbology in their homes you might never know.

I think it’s the same with anything else. If you’ve never met a trans person who doesn’t make enforcing pronouns their entire identity, it’s easy to have your perspective skewed towards the obnoxious loud ones you see online. If you don’t personally know a cop or a black person, sensationalist stereotypes might be your internal idea of normal about them too. Etc…

Linux users though… we’re all pushy weirdos. Not a normal good one among us :)

Actually now that it’s been mentioned, have you ever tried Linux on the desktop? It’s really good these days. I do not use arch btw, I’m a Debian user myself.

permalink
report
parent
reply
7 points
*

The word for this is fundamentalism. When people believe it’s their way or the highway and all others must conform.

However, in the case of trans folk, I think it’s a bit different. They’re not forcing pronouns on others, just asking that they be shown basic human respect. If you were a straight man, I’m sure you’d get pretty annoyed if someone insisted on calling you a woman nonstop. Sometimes, people need to be louder when they’re facing an existential crisis as they are in the USA among other places.

permalink
report
parent
reply
2 points

its in to love carter now so not so sure on that.

permalink
report
parent
reply
6 points

Not seeing many downvotes. I think people understand nuance more than you expected. :)

permalink
report
parent
reply
2 points

I’m loving being wrong!

permalink
report
parent
reply
2 points

Asmongold has never advocated for anything Christian and his takes are usual very center-left leaning. You mentioning him is kind of out of left field.

permalink
report
parent
reply
4 points
*

Socialistic polices get a bad rap because of the cold war-era communist=atheist association. Theoretically, you can reframe vast social safety nets by the government as citizens (read: also Christians) coordinating charity to be distributed more effectively. This is a bottom-up approach that has the common person’s buy-in. The reasonable criticism of the same policies lies in the top-down, legislation by fiat enactment of policy. No different than, let’s say, Netflix arbitrarily raising their prices without your input.

permalink
report
parent
reply
4 points
*

To be fair the reason most eastern european socialist movements were militantly atheist is that they had to deal with the Russian Orthodox church as it functioned in the late Russian Empire (a willing tool completely subservient to the czar that helped him oppress the people and opposed literally any form of progress). It was real bad

permalink
report
parent
reply
1 point

Patriarch Kirill has entered the chat.

permalink
report
parent
reply
22 points

As a recovering Catholic, my experience has been that Lutherans tend to be humble, charitable, and… not weird. Lutheranism puts a heavy emphasis on showing grace to yourself and people around you. I guess without the obsession with sex and shame, you can be a Christian and turn out pretty normal.

permalink
report
parent
reply
6 points

There are several sects of Lutheran. Missouri Synod is fucking nuts. My friend grew up in some other sect that found Missouri Synod too liberal.

permalink
report
parent
reply
6 points

Ex-catholic here who unknowingly moved deep into WELS Lutheran territory (if u haven’t heard of that one…well, I’m jealous ;)). Sadly, they ain’t all like that. And unlike Catholicism…there’s like a million different Lutheran synods…with rules and culture that vary WIDELY.

permalink
report
parent
reply
7 points

I don’t follow YouTube shit but what happened with Mr Beast why is he so hated now?

permalink
report
parent
reply
9 points

A bunch of allegedly this and that that has not been proven. Allegedly putting people in dangerous situations and then refusing to provide medical support. Having someone on the channel that is an alleged sex offender (charges are being dropped on that one), among other things. Looks really bad, but I would advise coming to your own conclusions as information comes out.

permalink
report
parent
reply
9 points

Legal Eagle just did a video about the whole thing as well. I’m inclined to believe his views on the whole mess.

https://youtu.be/W4CePWWN1Xs

permalink
report
parent
reply
3 points
*

Mr Beast went through four controversies in a short amount of time:

Content warning: Sexualization of minors

(1) Ava Kris Tyson (former Mr. Beast member) was shown to be a fan of an artist called Shadman that is known for drawing cartoon porn including “Loli” (drawings of sexualized children), and who drew the 8-year old daughter of a Youtuber. Ava bought some of Shadman’s art (a non-pornographic piece is seen on a Mr. Beast video), and also made some loli-related comments in the past. It is not clear whether Mr. Beast was aware of this and whether he was also a fan of this content.

(2) There was evidence of the group running a discord with minors in which sexual topics were discussed. Ava was accused of “grooming”. Discord chats were leaked and they confirmed the claims about Ava making a lot sexual jokes with a group of minors, but whether this is “grooming” is up for debate, as some consider adults being “edgy” with children not to meet the threshold for “grooming”.

In response to both of these, Mr. Beast cut Ava out of Mr. Beast.

(3) There is a “Beast Games” show being produced by Mr. Beast for Amazon Prime. It turns out that putting 2,000 people to compete for 5 million dollars in Las Vegas was a recipe for organizational disaster. People had issues getting their medicines and underwear. People were fed low-calorie meals like a small amount of cold oatmeal and an egg spread at irregular intervals. Some people had seizures and the local hospital reported several injured visitors from the games. It was reported that the team invited people of all ages and then made them compete in physical games for which young men had a very significant advantage over the old players that were also cast. You can see an article about this here, and in the comments you can see many players sharing their bad experiences: https://www.casino.org/vitalvegas/mrbeast-shoots-beast-games-in-las-vegas/

(4) A person who has an employee for a short amount of time released a video in which he claimed a lot of Mr. Beast videos are faked/rigged. He also mentions multiple examples in which Mr. Beast broke lottery laws.

permalink
report
parent
reply
2 points

I’m definitely out of the loop, but what’s the deal with asmongold and otk? I thought they were just generic twitch streamers

permalink
report
parent
reply
6 points

Watch asmongold’s recent video in trumps “Emergency” press conference. He sucks Trumps dick so hard, commending his mental clarity, while Trump is just incoherently ranting on the stage.

Asmongold is a right-wing shill through and through. Big incel energy

permalink
report
parent
reply
8 points

Don’t forget the good Christians who deleted reddit for lemmy!

permalink
report
parent
reply

politics

!politics@lemmy.world

Create post

Welcome to the discussion of US Politics!

Rules:

  1. Post only links to articles, Title must fairly describe link contents. If your title differs from the site’s, it should only be to add context or be more descriptive. Do not post entire articles in the body or in the comments.

Links must be to the original source, not an aggregator like Google Amp, MSN, or Yahoo.

Example:

  1. Articles must be relevant to politics. Links must be to quality and original content. Articles should be worth reading. Clickbait, stub articles, and rehosted or stolen content are not allowed. Check your source for Reliability and Bias here.
  2. Be civil, No violations of TOS. It’s OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It’s NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.
  3. No memes, trolling, or low-effort comments. Reposts, misinformation, off-topic, trolling, or offensive. Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to “Mom! He’s bugging me!” and “I’m not touching you!” Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.
  4. Vote based on comment quality, not agreement. This community aims to foster discussion; please reward people for putting effort into articulating their viewpoint, even if you disagree with it.
  5. No hate speech, slurs, celebrating death, advocating violence, or abusive language. This will result in a ban. Usernames containing racist, or inappropriate slurs will be banned without warning

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.

That’s all the rules!

Civic Links

Register To Vote

Citizenship Resource Center

Congressional Awards Program

Federal Government Agencies

Library of Congress Legislative Resources

The White House

U.S. House of Representatives

U.S. Senate

Partnered Communities:

News

World News

Business News

Political Discussion

Ask Politics

Military News

Global Politics

Moderate Politics

Progressive Politics

UK Politics

Canadian Politics

Australian Politics

New Zealand Politics

Community stats

  • 10K

    Monthly active users

  • 17K

    Posts

  • 483K

    Comments