Being unbanked is a big problem for many Americans

But evidently not for at least one.

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Hmmmmm… Possibly gives everything to charity and trusts for his children?

david fb

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Does he get his salary paid in cash?
Maybe he works for free… (although he’s overpaid even so)

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What do you think? Bitcoin? Or gold?

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Paid to his wife or someone with (hopefully fiduciary) responsibility.

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What would a government hating extremist say? “none of the big gummit’s business”?

Steve

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He/She would keep everything out of the public’s eye.

Apparently the man is not wealthy. Shocking!

Of course, it’s unlikely Johnson doesn’t actually have a bank account. What’s more likely is Johnson lives paycheck to paycheck—so much so that he doesn’t have enough money in his bank account to trigger the checking account disclosure rules for members of Congress.

DB2

I call poppycock.

The threshold for reporting is JUST $1000. With a combined income of over $200k, does anyone honestly think he keeps less that $1000 a month in all his deposit accounts? His self-reported mortgage 10 years ago was $250,000-$500,000. The mortgage payment alone is very likely more than $1000 a month.

Don’t be surprised if he amends those past disclosures.

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Out of curiosity, why do you think he wouldn’t have disclosed checking account balances in the past?

DB2

Not a flippin clue. Why has Thomas failed to disclose so many required items over the years? Ignorance? Sense of entitlement? Lack of consequences? Willful disobedience? Could be any/all of the above.

Why do YOU think he has not disclosed such? Do you honestly think that not only does he not have at least $1000 to his name, but also that that between him and his wife, they don’t have at least $5000 in total deposits?

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Yes, it’s possible, in that I can’t think of reason not to do the disclosure.

DB2

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I’m sorry, you can’t think of a reason why a politician would not do a financial disclosure? We need to speak to Clarance about this… :smiley:

There is something very, very fishy about this new speaker. Something, probably many things, are just not right about him.

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So, what is the advantage to him of not disclosing the balance in his checking account?

DB2

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Sure, it possible. Do you think it likely?

You can’t imagine any other reason for a failure to disclose? Come on friend, you can do better than that.

Why do you think Thomas failed to disclose? Ignorance, willful disobedience? Lack of consequences? Give us your best guess.

Might Johnson suffer from the same or similar failing?

Clarence Thomas to amend financial disclosure forms to reflect sale to GOP megadonor
http://www.cnn.com/2023/04/17/politics/clarence-thomas-amend-disclosure-gop-megadonor/index.html

Who said there needed to be an advantage? Again, ignorance, willful disobedience, and lack of consequences are all potentially sufficient reasons for one to simply think that the rules either don’t apply to them or that nothing will happen if one is caught.

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The amount of lobbyist “protected free speech” he is pocketing might be embarrassing. If he is forced to answer however, it will probably be “none of big gummit’s business”, then he will launch into a speech about “taking a principled stand to get big gummit out of people’s personal affairs”

Steve

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No problem. He gets fired. The govt will NOT “interfere with his personal affairs” by employing–or paying–him.

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The House refused to fire a member only a few days ago. Only 24 of his faction broke ranks.

Steve

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Keeping his financial life private would be one potential advantage. He might not want people to know his finances.

That begs the question, “Why?” Why doesn’t he want people to know things? Could be some benign thing based on principles. Could be something not benign.

Both the privacy advocate and the criminal have incentive to keep financial dealings out of the public eye.

–Peter

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I can think of a reason: He obtained money illegally and/or dishonestly.
Let’s apply some common sense: He’s probably taking home $10,000/month. His wife has a couple jobs too. Even if he is blowing all his money each month, there still should be a couple thousand in there at any one time.

Also, he used to have an IRA but that went away for some reason. So no checking, no savings, no retirement accounts. Does that even sound plausible?

The narrative on Fox News is that his blowing all his money every month makes him relatable to the average American. The fact he has a degenerate spending problem is a good thing, in other words.

The good news is that if he indeed is as incredibly financially illiterate as they are trying to make him out to be, he’ll fit in great with the rest of his caucus.

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