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.

  • Allonzee@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    If a poor American with no resources condemns our rigged, crony market capitalist economy, “they should stop complaining because they’re just bitter.”

    If a rich American with resources condemns our rigged, crony market capitalist economy, “they should stop complaining or they’re a hypocrite.”

    Our oligarchs like the casino they’ve made just fine. Either compliment their work or you’re “free” to shut the hell up and get back to making them money. Of course this will be used against Walz for being a bad capitalist. As if how hard one capitalisms(exploits others) should be celebrated.

    It just speaks to our backwards, inhuman, literally cancerous primary cultural value of greed first and only.

    • nomous@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      The unchecked obsession with profit above all else is bizarre. We’ve elevated basic greed to such a level that it’s considered a virtue, it’s such a blatant perversion of the most basic decency we’re all taught as children.