The Charity Gap

2008-10-04 08:19:19

#1

Kmar: Truth is my Bitch; +5,695|6601|132 and Bush

Yesterday, the Palins released their income tax returns for the last two years, as expected for the general election. While the returns showed the Palins to be squarely in the middle class, with income between $127,000 and $166,000 combined, they also revealed a charity gap between the two VP candidates:

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin made considerably less money than rival Sen. Joe Biden, but the Palin family gave more to charity in the last two years than Biden has in the last eight combined, according to Palin’s tax records released Friday afternoon. …

In 2006, the Palins paid $11,944 in taxes on $127,869 in income. In 2007, they paid $24,738 on $166,080.

But in 2006, they donated $4,880 to charity, and in 2007, they donated $3,325.

By contrast, Biden (D-Del.), Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama’s running mate, has donated a total of $3,690 since 1998 despite his higher Senate salary, according to an analysis posted by National Review.

Recall what Barack Obama said in his appearance at the Saddleback Forum in August:

“Americans’ greatest moral failure in my lifetime,” he said, “has been that we still don’t abide by that basic precept in Matthew that whatever you do for the least of my brothers, you do for me.”

And what Biden claimed as the moral imperative from soaking people with higher taxes:

“Catholic social doctrine as I was taught it is, you take care of people who need the help the most.”

Once again, we see that liberals talk about charity, and conservatives take action. The Palins have been quite generous with their cash, while Biden has given far less on an annual basis with a much larger income stream. Since the two Democrats keep claiming the charitable impulse for spending other people’s money, it’s revealing to once again compare Biden’s own personal giving to his political rhetoric, and to his opponent in November.

Xbone Stormsurgezz

2008-10-04 08:27:22

#2

Mekstizzle: WALKER; +3,611|6621|London, England

Funny cos it's supposed to be the Liberals who give to the needy and the Conservatives to not. But it's the other way round. Palin is being more of the Socialist. Then again, like ATG's "Tax and spend" topic. Everyone knows that financially the Conservatives in the US are anything but that.

I think it has to do with religion. I'm guessing alot of that charity money is church donations and stuff like that, because they're really religious. Whereas the other guys aren't so religious, so they don't donate as much to churches. Plus they're big time city slicker rich people, since when do they do stuff like Charity. Never, that's when

2008-10-04 08:45:25

#3

Pierre: I hunt criminals down for a living; +68|6675|Belgium

Before jumping on the wagon, I'd like to know to what 'charities' that money was paid. Any details on that?
I mean, when my kid has cancer and I give 50 % of my income to cancerresearch, am I generous?

2008-10-04 08:49:32

#4

tuckergustav: ...; +1,590|5913|...

Pierre wrote:
Before jumping on the wagon, I'd like to know to what 'charities' that money was paid. Any details on that?
I mean, when my kid has cancer and I give 50 % of my income to cancerresearch, am I generous?

I would like to know as well...

...

2008-10-04 08:50:44

#5

DesertFox-: The very model of a modern major general; +794|6684|United States of America

It's odd that anyone gives a damn about all these things that aren't the political stances and views held by a candidate. I'm all for the Church using monetary donations to run homeless shelters and soup kitchens, but I'd like my government people to get them off of the streets and get them a job. (I know it's an uber-idealistic view that rarely applies to real life, but giving money is just treating the symptoms of poverty, not curing it at the cause.)

2008-10-04 08:57:03

#6

oug: Calmer than you are.; +380|6519|Πάϊ

Not trying to defend Biden or the Democrats on this, but why do you give credit to the practice of charity? Think about it. Charity never changed anything. Much the opposite really. It's a means of maintaining the status quo. Like a pain killer for cancer. Not a cure.

Do you want to bridge the gap between rich and poor, or do you want to make the rich feel good about themselves?

_ƒ³

2008-10-04 08:57:37

#7

tuckergustav: ...; +1,590|5913|...

I assume that people care because you can tell a lot about someone based on who they give their money to. For example, if someone gives to the ACLU, Planned Parenthood, and Sierra Club...you can almost guarantee they are left leaning. Just helps to paint a more clear picture about what issues are important to them.

...

2008-10-04 09:01:49

#8

Stingray24: Proud member of the vast right-wing conspiracy; +1,060|6445|The Land of Scott Walker

Mek-Stizzle wrote:
Funny cos it's supposed to be the Liberals who give to the needy and the Conservatives to not. But it's the other way round. Palin is being more of the Socialist.

Giving of one's own choosing to those less fortunate is not socialism. The government jacking up taxes and telling you it's patriotic to pay more is socialist.

2008-10-04 09:08:13

#9

Kmar: Truth is my Bitch; +5,695|6601|132 and Bush

White Ribbon Alliance .. was a big one.

@getting on the wagon folks. Forget the fact that Bidens only gave $3,690 since 1998 when they made over 300k. Lets just focus on which charities she gave to because giving to said charities might also be of personal importance to her.

Animal abuse is a sensitive spot for me.. and I donate to the ASPCA. Does that mean it somehow doesn't mean as much. gtfo

Xbone Stormsurgezz

2008-10-04 09:22:02

#10

Mekstizzle: WALKER; +3,611|6621|London, England

Stingray24 wrote:
Mek-Stizzle wrote:
Funny cos it's supposed to be the Liberals who give to the needy and the Conservatives to not. But it's the other way round. Palin is being more of the Socialist.
Giving of one's own choosing to those less fortunate is not socialism. The government jacking up taxes and telling you it's patriotic to pay more is socialist.

I never said it's socialism, I said it's more socialist. Thanks for trying to twist my words though.

2008-10-04 10:32:27

#11

Stingray24: Proud member of the vast right-wing conspiracy; +1,060|6445|The Land of Scott Walker

A socialist is one who advocates or practices socialism yes? Perhaps we have a different understanding of the terms.

2008-10-04 12:46:06

#12

GorillaTicTacs: Member; +231|6373|Kyiv, Ukraine

Who cares about a few extra dollars to charity...

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who has made a crackdown on gift-giving to state officials a centerpiece of her ethics reform agenda, has accepted gifts valued at $25,367 from industry executives, municipalities and a cultural center whose board includes officials from some of the largest mining interests in the state, a review of state records shows...

$25,000 in "gifts" in 20 months as governor...not bad. It gets better.

She then manages to wrack up $17,000 in that same 20 months for sleeping at her Wasilla home 312 nights of that time...considering the commute time also, she didn't manage to get much work done, just enough to fill out her travel re-imbursement sheet.

She also managed to order a $50,000 renovation of her office as mayor, without permission from the city council. When questioned by the council, her response was something along the lines of "who's going to stop it?". Nobody had the balls then, they were just stunned.

There's also a whole slew of funny money related to sending her husband off on "fact finding" missions for his snow-mobiling, as well as a few cross-continent sports events they attended as a family on the state taxpayer dime.

We could also get into where that "bridge to nowhere" money actually went, and how many times she's lied publically and said she was against "earmarks". Or my personal favorite, splitting up the state government offices to different cities so she could keep her political enemies spread out...all at great expense to the taxpayer again with a major decrease in efficiency for governance.

As I was saying in another thread...this chick is a tried, true, and trained repug psychopath who's managed more corruption in her year and a half as governor than most politicians do in a lifetime. Its all good though, the spread is now 13 points on the polling and gambling houses have Obama up by 20 points up by their calculations.

As for the OP, neither one sounds like anything significant. I make a fraction of that and still manage to put about $3000 towards charities every year. It looks like both paid out exactly what they needed to offset their tax bracket.

2008-10-04 13:15:30

#13

Kmar: Truth is my Bitch; +5,695|6601|132 and Bush

Are you going around boasting about the need to take care of people who need it the most.. and then making an absolute pathetic attempt to do so?

"Sen. Joe Biden and his wife, Jill, have given an average of $369 per year to charities during the past decade, according to tax returns posted today to Sen. Barack Obama’s campaign Web site."

What a fucking joke.

By comparison, Sen. John McCain, the Republican Presidential nominee, in 2007 reported $405,409 in total income and contributed $105,467, or 26 percent of his total income, to charity.

Sen. Obama, and his wife, Michelle, donated $240,000 in 2007, or about 5.7 percent of the couple’s $4.2-million in reported income.

Here is some change you can belive in.

According to Federal Election Commission records, employees of Oldaker, Biden & Belair LLP have done legal work for Mr. Biden's political campaigns. This year alone, the lobbying firm earned $140,000 in legal fees from Mr. Biden's presidential bid.

The University of Delaware over the years has paid more than $1 million in lobbying fees to Oldaker, Biden & Belair and the National Group, an affiliate

Some of Mr. Biden's biggest political support has come from the financial services industry, including more than $200,000 from employees at MBNA Corp. in Delaware. The New York Times reported that Mr. Biden's son also has worked as a consultant for MBNA from 2001 to 2005.

Xbone Stormsurgezz

2008-10-04 13:17:40

#14

FEOS: Bellicose Yankee Air Pirate; +1,182|6411|'Murka

C'mon, KM. Everyone knows it's better to give away other peoples' money than your own.

Last edited by FEOS (2008-10-04 13:29:47)

“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”
― Albert Einstein
Doing the popular thing is not always right. Doing the right thing is not always popular

2008-10-04 13:35:00

#15

oug: Calmer than you are.; +380|6519|Πάϊ

I don't want rich politicians giving money to charity. I want the government to make sure there is no need for that.

_ƒ³

2008-10-04 13:42:56

#16

SealXo: Member; +309|6536

oug wrote:
I don't want rich politicians giving money to charity. I want the government to make sure there is no need for that.

I don't believe in that, I think it should be optional.
My vision is seeing every fortune 500 company donating 2% of its gross profit to a charity. Imagine, its pocket change to them, but BIG money to charities. I don't think it should be a law to do it. I think they just should to give them a good image. Incentivise it so they choose to.

2008-10-04 13:48:59

#17

Kmar: Truth is my Bitch; +5,695|6601|132 and Bush

oug wrote:
I don't want rich politicians giving money to charity. I want the government to make sure there is no need for that.

Who doesn't want there to be no need for charity? .. you trust them to do that. My government, not so much.

Xbone Stormsurgezz

2008-10-04 13:50:07

#18

san4: The Mas; +311|6688|NYC, a place to live

I don't care if politicians give money to charity. I want them to be competent. Sarah Palin is not competent. Joe Biden is extremely competent.

2008-10-04 13:52:16

#19

GorillaTicTacs: Member; +231|6373|Kyiv, Ukraine

Straws!...must...grasp...at straws.......

Urk!

2008-10-04 13:58:31

#20

SealXo: Member; +309|6536

Kmarion wrote:
oug wrote:
I don't want rich politicians giving money to charity. I want the government to make sure there is no need for that.
Who doesn't want there to be no need for charity? .. you trust them to do that. My government, not so much.

it is rated private groups do like 5x better job than the government funded charities

2008-10-04 14:11:58

#21

Kmar: Truth is my Bitch; +5,695|6601|132 and Bush

GorillaTicTacs wrote:
Straws!...must...grasp...at straws.......

Urk!

Hey junior, you are the one diverted the topic. Don't get upset because your point about gifts came back and smacked you in the forehead.

urk!

Xbone Stormsurgezz

2008-10-04 14:12:51

#22

Kmar: Truth is my Bitch; +5,695|6601|132 and Bush

SealXo wrote:
Kmarion wrote:
oug wrote:
I don't want rich politicians giving money to charity. I want the government to make sure there is no need for that.
Who doesn't want there to be no need for charity? .. you trust them to do that. My government, not so much.
it is rated private groups do like 5x better job than the government funded charities

http://www.charitynavigator.org/
http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.c … videoid/22

Xbone Stormsurgezz

2008-10-04 14:18:38

#23

oug: Calmer than you are.; +380|6519|Πάϊ

Kmarion wrote:
oug wrote:
I don't want rich politicians giving money to charity. I want the government to make sure there is no need for that.
Who doesn't want there to be no need for charity? .. you trust them to do that. My government, not so much.

I don't understand...

_ƒ³

2008-10-04 14:24:50

#24

Kmar: Truth is my Bitch; +5,695|6601|132 and Bush

oug wrote:
Kmarion wrote:
oug wrote:
I don't want rich politicians giving money to charity. I want the government to make sure there is no need for that.
Who doesn't want there to be no need for charity? .. you trust them to do that. My government, not so much.
I don't understand...

I too would like to eliminate the need for private charity. My government (The US) has done nothing but discourage that idea.. Washington sucks.

Xbone Stormsurgezz

2008-10-04 14:37:13

#25

Bertster7: Confused Pothead; +1,101|6581|SE London

GorillaTicTacs wrote:
Who cares about a few extra dollars to charity...

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who has made a crackdown on gift-giving to state officials a centerpiece of her ethics reform agenda, has accepted gifts valued at $25,367 from industry executives, municipalities and a cultural center whose board includes officials from some of the largest mining interests in the state, a review of state records shows...
$25,000 in "gifts" in 20 months as governor...not bad. It gets better.

She then manages to wrack up $17,000 in that same 20 months for sleeping at her Wasilla home 312 nights of that time...considering the commute time also, she didn't manage to get much work done, just enough to fill out her travel re-imbursement sheet.

She also managed to order a $50,000 renovation of her office as mayor, without permission from the city council. When questioned by the council, her response was something along the lines of "who's going to stop it?". Nobody had the balls then, they were just stunned.

There's also a whole slew of funny money related to sending her husband off on "fact finding" missions for his snow-mobiling, as well as a few cross-continent sports events they attended as a family on the state taxpayer dime.

We could also get into where that "bridge to nowhere" money actually went, and how many times she's lied publically and said she was against "earmarks". Or my personal favorite, splitting up the state government offices to different cities so she could keep her political enemies spread out...all at great expense to the taxpayer again with a major decrease in efficiency for governance.

As I was saying in another thread...this chick is a tried, true, and trained repug psychopath who's managed more corruption in her year and a half as governor than most politicians do in a lifetime. Its all good though, the spread is now 13 points on the polling and gambling houses have Obama up by 20 points up by their calculations.

As for the OP, neither one sounds like anything significant. I make a fraction of that and still manage to put about $3000 towards charities every year. It looks like both paid out exactly what they needed to offset their tax bracket.

Sounds like she's got plenty of experience when it comes to wasting tax payers money.

BF2S Forums The Charity Gap

Pierre wrote:

Mek-Stizzle wrote:

Stingray24 wrote:

Mek-Stizzle wrote:

oug wrote:

oug wrote:

Kmarion wrote:

oug wrote:

GorillaTicTacs wrote:

SealXo wrote:

Kmarion wrote:

oug wrote:

Kmarion wrote:

oug wrote:

oug wrote:

Kmarion wrote:

oug wrote:

GorillaTicTacs wrote:

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