Politics
In Nikki We Trust
Or do we?
Nikki Haley:
A politician whose parents emigrated here from India, yet she wants to close the borders to others, even those from India. Hey, she’s got her family here now, so who cares?
This is a quick look at just who some of these pretenders are who want to lead this nation as President for several years, in this case, Nikki Haley. If the following makes you question why you wouldn’t support her, it should.
There is one factual comment about politics in America (another being “they’re all corrupt”, which is pretty much true), “follow the money”. With Nikki, she went from a broke daughter of immigrants from India, and deeply in debt, to a millionaire multiple times over in just four years.
An amazing feat for anyone. Especially one who was in debt nearly $2 million, including IRS liens on her property for non-payment of taxes, right up to four years ago.
Even her husband had his business fortunes turn around, from an income in the thousands in 2018 to owner/CEO of at least two corporations with defense industry contracts. In four years. An amazing feat that is a testament to their business prowess. I guess. Calling in favors for all those corporations she helped out as Governor didn’t harm her evidently.
During 2013, while Governor of SC, she championed corporate welfare for Boeing by providing bond money and $120 million in tax breaks and incentives (meaning the taxpayers of SC paid for this) to Boeing Aerospace to expand their business in SC.
Of course, this landed her accolades from the corporate heads of Boeing, and when she needed cash, a position on their board of directors after she left her position at the UN as ambassador to “join the private sector”.
In fact, she was asked to join the boards of other corporations doing business in SC as well, providing her and her family with millions in income, including stock options.
This mention of the UN position she held should include the fact that when Trump offered her the position, she responded, “Why me? I don’t even know what the UN does.” Seriously. Now she aspires to be President? I guess she figured out what the UN does.
I congratulate her. Much of the rest of the world has no idea what the UN does, outside of being the largest and wealthiest food bank for the world’s poorest nations; you know … the ones getting raped weekly by the world’s largest and wealthiest developed nations.
Did the taxpayers of SC know (or even care) that $120 million of their taxes went to Boeing or that this Boeing facility’s profits (80%) come from overseas? Probably not.
By 2014, Nikki Haley and her husband had a combined income of just under $200,00 annually, and that dropped to $170,000 a year later. The bills mounted, federal taxes went unpaid for extended lengths of time, the IRS placed liens on her property, and things looked grim. Until she left her position at the UN and sprinted back into public “work”.
It’s at this point she turned to Boeing for a jump-start in her money-raising career. She was named to their board of directors and by year's end, she received over $250,000 in fees and stock from Boeing. This was a kind of delayed payment for that quarter of a billion dollars in tax incentives back in 2013.
See, if you are an American politician, evidently everything always works out ok … always. The US is indeed the land of dreams and opportunity … if you’re a politician. But there’s more. There always is.
Nikki went on speaking tours generating millions in funds. Name a business or corporation in South Carolina, and she’s probably given a speech to them, to their kids, to their schools, to their foundations, and to anyone else who will listen.
Joining their boards, such as that of Great Southern Homes, a major home builder in the Southeastern US. She is now a stockholder as well. Within weeks of her announcing her run for President, Great Southern decided to provide Nikki with over $300,000 in stock options. I think their CEO wants to be an ambassador somewhere … maybe the UN?
Nikki also became an advisor to a hedge fund (venture capital group called Prism Global Management). Remember, this is someone who didn’t know what the UN is. But her advisor role she described as: “They ask me questions about China and the Middle East I answer them.” She receives from $100,000 to $1,000,000 in consulting fees annually.
I’d love that job myself. In comparison, I have started, owned, and managed 6 small businesses over 45 years, studied law, sold millions in real estate, and started and operated a non-profit. Not only can’t I get anyone to write me a check for a half million dollars for a speech on how to live a decent life running legitimate businesses, but I can’t get people to read my articles about it on Medium.
The interesting part of this Prism Global Management hedge fund is, that it has no commercial office, no website, and lists its location as a residence. Yes, somebody evidently runs the hedge fund company from their living room, in their pajamas. Whoever “they” are, they paid Nikki over $700,000 in 2022. How’s that for hitting the lottery?
Additional outside income from speeches provides her typically $185,000 per speech. Nice gig if you can get it. Just get into politics. But, her fees went higher … much higher. Here’s a head-scratcher: She received “$346,000 she earned from the Mount Scopus College Foundation, which funds a Jewish day school in Melbourne, Australia.”
Sound shaky? See, the first thought that came to me was, why not give the $350,000 to this day school? Right? Interestingly, the CEO of this foundation refused to discuss how they could (and why they would) pay someone over a third of a million dollars who simply answered questions from the kids at a day school. Think about that.
So in just (4) years, Nikki and her hanger-on hubby have gone from roughly $2 million in debt and a combined income of under $170,000 to:
- ownership of a hedge fund run out of someone’s house that is providing her $700,000+ income this year
- positions on boards such as Boeing and Great Southern Homes, which have paid her hundreds of thousands of dollars annually
- raking in millions in funds for speaking engagements (“up to $12 million” in just this past year)
- eradication of all her debts, somehow, including mortgages, credit card debts, back taxes owed, IRS liens settled … to her now millionaire status many times over in just four years
- managing her very own non-profit (meaning she doesn’t have to disclose donors or donations), explained by the Washington Post below:
Funny how that works. Let’s see how that could work for her. She donates part of her income to her non-profit (donors are hidden of course) as a tax write-off. Then the non-profit pays her a management salary and/or fee for being on the board of directors. So legally, she earns money, donates that money to a non-profit she operates, receives a large tax write-off, and then she the money is returned to her in fees and salary.
These politicians sure are slick.
Are curious as to just how much her foundation pays her and her family, as opposed to improving rural education and after-school programs in SC? Yeah, me too.
Remember, while allegedly supporting rural schools in her state, Nikki is 100% in approval of the banning, removal, and burning of books from schools and libraries. Evidently, books are no longer required for the schools she allegedly is helping with her foundation.
If you are wondering about this foundation, you should. Just think back to the Clinton Foundation, which was essentially daughter Chelsea’s piggy bank. Or Trump’s “foundation” scams like the one for children with cancer from which he and his family absconded with funds.
Foundations for politicians are generally a family piggy bank, hiding where the money comes from, and where most of that money goes, with much of it going to the owner of the foundation. But only after they get their tax write-off, allowing them to keep most of what they initially made. This is in part how Trump pays from zero to $500 a year in taxes. This is also why Nikki suddenly refuses to divulge her tax returns.
We’ve heard this before, right?