Posted on 12/05/2009 12:59:53 AM PST by raccoonradio
The nation’s richest senator - the Bay State’s own John Forbes Kerry - has been knocked down a few notches after seeing his fortune sliced by one-third by the fiscal meltdown that ripped down Wall Street.
Kerry’s personal net worth plunged from an estimated $336 million in 2007 to $208 million in 2008, according to a study by the Washington-based Center for Responsive Politics. The Boston Democrat’s staggering losses dropped him from first to third among the wealthiest senators, trailing Herb Kohl (D-Wis.) and Mark Warner (D-Va.)
“So does this mean Senator Kerry is now arriving in Nantucket by ferry instead of private jet?” sniped Massachusetts GOP spokeswoman Tarah Donoghue.
But Kerry said, “This isn’t about me. The folks who have taken it in the chin during this recession are the people who didn’t start out with anything to lose and they’re hanging on by their fingernails.”
He added that the meltdown “could have been much worse . . . (but) the stimulus stopped us from going over that cliff.”
Kerry was not alone in his personal financial losses. The late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy lost more than half his fortune as his estimated net worth sank from $104 million to $44 million - dropping him from third to ninth among the wealthiest senators. And Rep. Niki Tsongas (D-Lowell) saw her fortune shrink from an estimated $11 million to $4.9 million.
Tsongas owns millions in stocks and bonds, including shares of municipal bonds from several Bay State towns, including Barnstable, Randolph, Wellesley and Springfield. She also owns stock in major companies such as Wachovia, Verizon, Bank of America and Wells Fargo, records show.
Rep. Barney Frank, chairman of Congress’ financial services committee, which oversaw the banking crisis, suffered relatively minimal losses as his net worth went from an estimated $1.3 million to $972,000, the study found.
“The fact is it depends on where people had their money. In my case, I have been most heavily invested in assets that didn’t suffer major losses,” Frank said. “Members of Congress are full participants in the economy - for the good and the bad.”
As for Kerry, he sold millions in stocks in 2007, including shares in Anheuser-Busch, Honeywell, McDonald’s, Raytheon and Coca-Cola, all of which saw dramatic price increases in 2008. He cashed in millions of shares in his wife’s company, Heinz, which also saw its value jump in 2008.
He also shifted around millions in private equity and asset management funds in 2007, and purchased several banking stocks, including millions in Capital One, a troubled lender that has since received $3.5 billion in federal bailout money.
Barry Armstrong, a Needham financial adviser and part-time Herald columnist, said, “I don’t think (Kerry is) hurting. But we have wealthy clients . . . who still have more money than they could ever spend in their lifetime but all of them have cut back.”
Kerry legally kept more than $17 Million in campaign contributions in 04, he spent practically nothing in the last couple of weeks because his polls showed he would probably lose. Neither did he contribute to any other campaigns. In fact, he still sells the data bases his staff developed at the campaign's expense, to other Democrats!
Very interessying details of JK
He sure is an imperious bast**d for the wacko family he came from. I know the low down on his nutty father who lived in complete denial of being Jewish which made for an “interesting* family dynamic....his mother was prolly OK
For years the average Massachusetts voter thought JK was Irish. His fake Irish name got him far in life. Half Jewish, half Brahmin and 100% fake Irish
Once JK constructs a fantasy life he stays on script and never deviates. His fantasy of his Vietnam heroism is a good example. Now this mofo has a cap and trade fantasy going
Dennis you are too charitable. The average Massachusetts voter is drunk. The voting booths are kept dark. The pixilated citizens are forced to bend over to see the ballot, and all they can make out is the K and the Y, and assume that they are voting for a Kennedy.
By the time they've made it to their third voting precinct, they are sure of it. Thïs is one of many reasons why the residents of Massachusetts are known throughout northern New England as "massholes.
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