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.

21 points

For once a guy when the average voter says ‘they’re just like me!’ It’s actually true.

permalink
report
reply
-22 points

Maybe not the best idea to put people in charge that are obviously bad with money.

permalink
report
reply
5 points

Love this logic. The dude is just a normal dude. He didn’t exploit his position and shake every penny he could out of his charges. So he’s bad with money.

Get a grip dude.

permalink
report
parent
reply
-4 points

There is a huge difference in “exploiting his position” and being financially illiterate.

permalink
report
parent
reply
2 points

Not in the US. That’s how people get ridiculously rich. 100% of the time. Every time.

permalink
report
parent
reply
12 points

Wow, this is the best you got?

permalink
report
parent
reply
24 points

1 in 15 Americans is a millionaire?

Presses X to doubt

permalink
report
reply
14 points

A millionaire doesn’t mean “Has $1 million in cash sitting in a checking account”. It just means your networth is at least $1 million. So like if you bought a shitty rundown starter home you’re half way there. A 401k you can touch for another 20-30 years could get you the rest of the way.

permalink
report
parent
reply
19 points

Anyone who owns a detached home within 50 miles of an ocean is already at least 3/4 of the way there. Not surprising.

permalink
report
parent
reply
11 points
*

There are some places where all you have to do to become a millionaire (at least on paper) is to live long enough in one place to pay off the mortgage.

permalink
report
parent
reply
12 points

This kinda checks out. I know more than 15 people, and I know a few millionaires. You probably do too, just it’s usually their wealth is in the form of a house.

permalink
report
parent
reply
23 points
*

Dual income homeowners with healthy retirement funds. The fucked up thing is 1 million dollars isn’t that impressive anymore – you can easily spend that in retirement living a middle class lifestyle in the USA. Particularly when you factor in age related medical expenses and elder care.

It’s not like our retirement, healthcare, and elder care systems are catastrophically broken or anything.

permalink
report
parent
reply
6 points

Not shocking for an older or retired working professional.

permalink
report
parent
reply
5 points

The last time I looked up the stats, around 2015, 10% of US households (not individuals) had $1M, and 1% of households had $10M. The symmetry made it very memorable.

According to the census bureau ( https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publications/2023/demo/p70br-183.pdf ) entry into the top 10% now requires $1.6M, which means that substantially more than 1-in-10 are millionaires. They’re mostly going to be married couples over 55.

permalink
report
parent
reply
10 points

Exploding property process will do that.

Average houses in most cities are at or over 1 million easy.

permalink
report
parent
reply
-7 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
10 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
-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
-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
-9 points
*
Removed by mod
permalink
report
parent
reply
1 point

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
1 point

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

permalink
report
parent
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

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

  • 15K

    Monthly active users

  • 16K

    Posts

  • 481K

    Comments