There’s only 2 options for Bernie Sanders: either he’s lying about his net worth or he’s incredibly stupid. While it’s likely that he could be both of these things, let’s assume that he’s lying because that is what everything that I’ve found indicates.
It’s tough to really know what his net worth is (lowest estimates I’ve seen are $129,026 and highest are just north of $700,000) but the important thing to remember is that he claims that he isn’t a millionaire. This is important for him to do because leftists see virtue in being poor. Michael Moore, a famous documentary filmmaker, when asked about being in the 1% by Piers Morgan said: “How could I be in the 1%? I do really well, but what’s the point though?” Moore went on to say: “Even though I do well, I don’t associate myself with those who do well. I am devoting my life to those who have less.” This may have well come from Bernie’s mouth. “Even though I make $174,000 a year as a US Senator, I don’t associate myself with anyone successful.” It’s really a perverse worldview. What he’s saying is that rich people are evil by default so how the hell could they ever do anything good for anyone?
Bernie Sanders isn’t a 1%er, but he’s close.
Bernie famously didn’t have a full time job until he was 40 years old so he wasn’t getting any returns with a 401k matching program from his employer or even getting any compound interest from saving and modestly investing in the market. His total salary from 1991-2014 was $3,627,800 or $151,158.33/year. Even after taxes, living expenses, donating to charity, etc you would expect him to be a millionaire. So why isn’t he?
At a 28% tax bracket he would’ve paid $1,015,784 in taxes in the past 25 years. The national cost of living average is $64,000 per year so extrapolate that over 24 years and we have roughly 1.5 million in expenses. Based on his 2014 tax return we can assume his charitable contributions over the last 25 years to be $181,390. He embodies the notion that poorer conservatives donate more to charity than wealthy liberals. So based on his low donations to charity, Sanders would then be left with ~$900,000 in cash. But then again, he has invested his money. In the mid-1960s, Bernie, his brother and his then wife bought 85 acres of land in Vermont for $2,500. Today, an empty lot in Burlington with .373 acres is selling for $87,900.
It is safe to assume that Bernie’s $2,500 investment in his 85 acres has appreciated tremendously in value since the mid 1960’s considering land prices in Vermont today.
10 acres in neighboring Hinesburg is almost a half a million dollars. It’s safe to assume in land value alone, Bernie’s net worth is well over a million dollars.
In addition to land, Bernie has assets with several Tiaa mutual funds, several Valic mutual funds, Vanguard, and others. So since we know why he’s lying about his assets and money the question now becomes why should we trust him with our money? We already know that he’s a hypocrite by paying his interns $12/hr while demanding that the country pay $15/hr.
Unless Bernie’s wife has tons of unreported debt or one of them has a serious drug problem, it seems unlikely that every number you see reported about Bernie is true. It’s safe to assume that his real net worth is closer to $10 million than it is to $700,000. He’s just another leftist: do what I say and not what I do. If he really believed in his socialist ideals, he should give his land away to the government. He should demand that his salary for being a US Senator should be reduced. He should give away more to charity. But he’s a leftist and that will never happen. Bernie is one of the wealthiest people on Earth currently and he’s fooling a lot of gullible people. He will not fight for you. He will do what’s best for him. And currently what’s best for him is letting you think he’s a schmuck who cares about the “working man.” Like Michael Moore, Bernie is a conman. He preaches socialism but is a capitalist when it’s convenient for him. He’s just another fraud in public office.
Genesis of Man 