Presidential income.

Geez, they are all making too much.

Why is McCain even getting any SS? I thought ifyou earned too much in a year that the SS payments were cut accordingly?

Priscilla - that's what I want to know!

The incomes you talked about include revenues from book. I think your article should have mentioned where the money came from at least.
These incomes don't bother me one bit. What bothers me is when they get out there and pretend to know that they feel the pinch. Conflict of interests also could be a problem if they made a lot of money with consultant fees for example. Or speaking fees from groups with lobbyists wanting certain favors from Washington.
Other than that I don't see why the Clintons and the Obamas money should be a problem when both of them made the majority of their money from books that ordinary people bought.
On the other hand, a poor president is more likely to be bought, is an argument you hear often. I'd rather have a president who made honest money, wealthy enough to be in it not for the money. Mitt Romney is a multi millionaire from the private sector, so is Bloomberg. It should be a plus, they know how to generate revenues. Want a blue collar worker who made it through the rank with populism rhetoric?

Actually Alan - Obama's money did come mostly from his books. The Clinton's however came mostly from Bill's talks and speeches.

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Thats true. Who are they reprsenting because it is never going to be me.

Congrats on being featured on Gathers home page!

Thanks Melinda!

Anyone who has paid into Social Security for the required number of years is entitled to receive benefits, no matter how much they are currently making. Social Security benefits are capped, however, so even if you made millions a year, you still probably only qualify for a few thousand a month in benefits. But, in the case of McCain and others who are working while collecting benefits, if you earn above a certain amount, your Social Security benefits become taxable income. So, McCain is paying taxes on that money and it's going back into the coffers. I'm sure the Clintons will also collect Social Security as soon as they're eligible, despite the millions they make per year.

This may not be completely accurate, but I think of Social Security as similar to a 401K. True, it's a pyramid system, which will probably screw my (your) generation, but on paper, the fact that McCain is getting benefits is completely legit. That being said, it's also only fair that you and I get to use the system that we will have supported for 35 years. So if that means that people like McCain receive only nominal, token benefits so that the system can stay solvent long enough for us to figure out a solution, or so that the system serves the purpose for which it was intended, namely keeping our elderly from suffering starvation and homelessness, then perhaps instead of just raising the benefit age higher and higher, we reduce the payments to the self-sufficient. This is social welfare, of course, but so are a lot of things we do.

But, at the same time, it's NOT social welfare. Many of the people who are on it paid into it during their working years, so they should legitimately get the benefits. HOWEVER, why should McCain get $23,000/year when my mother-in-law only gets $1400 a month from which $400 is then deducted for Medicare?

McCain is getting $6,000 more a year than your mother-in-law because he probably paid a lot more in Social Security taxes than your mother-in-law did. The benefits are based on what you paid into the system, up to a maximum benefit. I suspect McCain is getting the maximum benefit. And as with everyone else, he probably pays the same $400 a month for Medicare coverage.

Personally, I would be embarrassed to be accepting Social Security benefits if I made what McCain makes. All it does is cut into future benefits for those of us who will actually depend on it.

On the other hand, I have no issues with money being earned honestly, and that includes book revenues as well as speeches, etc.

Since this country was founded, the wealthier $$ class has always dominated politics. The declaration of independence & constitution were both written with "protection of wealth" themes between the lines...it is a common theme in most capitalistic countries.

Obama hasn't had money for long. He and his wife were able to finally pay off their student loans three years ago. I have no problem voting for him. FDR was wealthy and from a socially "elite" family, yet the country and the common man thought he was doing a good job for them for fifteen years.

Amy B., they are lucky they had you here to offer some actual facts.

To be fair, Obama and his wife both worked very hard against a lot of odds to get wealthy... as did the Clintons to a lesser extent... and they hopefully contribute a great deal back into the pool through taxes.

Socrates stated that wealth does not produce goodness but that it is goodness which brings about wealth, even in how one's nation and its economic vitality grows ever stronger. Socrates further suggested that goodness consists of caring for one's soul. He'd probably roll over in his grave did he realize that now we are so close to a world war over who owns the rights to this soul thing. *chuckle* Jj

Laura, I absolutely adore the little hoot you are holding. That has to be the most captivating icon I've ever seen on Gather.

When I worked in the deep south of the US, there was a band of screech owls who always seemed to congregate on a few trees in the evenings outside my house. And boy, were their low-toned whistling sort of hooting of a rather pleasantly eery type, very evocatively haunting, like nothing I can remember from any other owl.

I, too, think that someone whose income exceeds 7 figures has little in common with those of us in the lower class. IMHO, legislators should earn a figure equal to the median income of their constituency. Plus have them be punished by HIGH fines and immediate removal from office for taking anything worth more than $1, from lobbyists and/or other special interests.

McCain draws Social Security because he's old enough that there's no longer a cap on how much he can earn and still draw benefits. There's an earnings limit, beyond which one need no longer pay their Social Security tax. If a retiree earns more than that amount, they should no longer be eligible to receive benefite.

Acutally, the Social Security deduction is technically an insurance premium. What we collect is an annuity based on our earnings while we worked. I wish people would stop talking about Social Security recipients as if they are getting something for nothing!!

I find it hard to understand also, how people can get upset about what someone makes..and when they assume they didnt earn it...that is not the norm...there is a large number of very successful people who started from nothing...one was the man who started McDonalds...he did not even know how to read....some folks just have the drive and desire to do better or make more...and not all of them have taken with out giving a lot back....there is an old saying...and it is still the same...It takes money to make money...and I certainly do not want someone taking care of our economy who dose not know how to make it and how to manage it....

Also...Social Security dose not go on for ever...when you have received what you put in, it stops...and I have never thought of it as insurance...and I don't know how you could consider it to be

For instance.....take a retired widow of 65, her husband has passed away...she can take either her husbands Social Security or her own...what happens to all the money she paid in SS when she takes her husbands because the odds are, it is higher as he worked longer and more than likely made a higher wage.....

I don't care how much money someone else makes. I don't care what they do with their money ~ although I probably spend mine in many different ways than the wealthy. I DO care about the fact that the "neuvaux riche" seem to suffer from memory loss. They rapidly forget where they came from. They no longer relate to the "ordinary" people.

Donna- it's not that I assume they didn't earn their income. I'm certain they did, and perfectly legitimately too. It's just that those numbers are incomprehensible to someone who just scrapes by. I was concerned more about the "memory loss" that Aunt Boni is talking about. I wonder how much I'm being represented because I know that it's hard to remember not making it when you are suddenly successful.

Social Security bothers me because it doesn't seem to work to me. Either it's a retirement plan - in which case I could do better by myself and it would make more sense to teach people to save their own money, or it's a government tax which pays for the elderly - in which case, why are we paying someone who obviously doesn't need it?

According to an article from the Washington Post on March 21, 2008 (http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/03/21/mccain_blows_by_public_spedin.html) McCain officially broke the $54 million dollar primary spending limit by $4.4 million.

McCain has admitted that he is not so good at economics.

I wonder how his first wife is doing. I hope she is OK. Anyone who would accept promises from McCain should consider what happened to his first wife.

Marrying an extremely wealthy person is not going to be an option for most Americans in terms of getting control over a lot of money.

Caring for children and elders is not considered to be "work" under Social Security rules. Caregivers should be aware that the person who earns money controls when he or she retires and thereby controls what and when the person who is seen as a "dependent" can receive.

If our justice system were to work in an honest manner, McCain would have consequences for over-spending on the primary campaign.

Deliberate disrespect for law and prior commitments is what I have come to expect from Washington politicians. Sadly, I doubt there will be consequences.

I agree with Laura about Social Security. It is really broken, but how can we expect people like Hillary, Obama, or McCain to understand or care?

Well, Mary, with Obama I think we can. Look at these:

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It's the senator pay that really rankles. And that doesn't iclude lush health insurance. He's getting that at our expense.