If you donate too much, you are EVIL

Published on April 21, 2006 By Dr Guy In Politics

In what can only be described as a satire of putrid hate, the loons on the far left have gone off the deepend again. As some may know, Dick Cheney took advantage of the elimination of the charity ceiling that congress passed in the wake of Katrina. Prior to last fall, you were limited to deducting 50% of your income in charitable donations. But since the ceiling was removed, you could bet the farm and donate as much as you wanted.

Dick Cheney did. he donated 77% of his income to charity. What a great guy, right? Or at least a noble deed, right? hardly! Look at what some of the loony loopy luddite left had to say about Dick Cheney's generosity:

Why is this man not in jail?

How does this guy sleep at night? This administration makes me sick to my stomach. They are sooooo corrupt.

This administration has no shame.
They are "do as I say, not as I do" people

REPREHENSIBLE, totally devoid of any moral values, ...a true, dyed-in-the-wool Robber Baron.

We need a perp-walk, and we need it now.

I wonder how much each of these twerps donated last year. I bet is was about a buck 50 each.

Comments (Page 2)

Adventure-Dude

on Apr 21, 2006

Yes Cheney is profiting on his stocks. Would you want our second in command of the country to be a poor investor and poor control of his investments? I wouldn't even want that for the corp. I work for. But maybe that's just me.

AD

Adventure-Dude

on Apr 21, 2006

Double post please delete thanks.

bakerstreet

on Apr 21, 2006

I might not be remembering correctly, but I thought it was a condition of Cheney wiggling out of the coflict of interest thing that he had to give away all the money his iffy investments produced from the time he became vice president.

drmiler

on Apr 21, 2006

might not be remembering correctly, but I thought it was a condition of Cheney wiggling out of the coflict of interest thing that he had to give away all the money his iffy investments produced from the time he became vice president.

I'm sorry but the VP "wiggled" out of nothing. No conflict of interest was ever proven. Iffy investments? Those were "not" investments sir. They were stock options. And those kind of options are given to most of upper management who retire. Those "stock options" were part of his retirement package.

bakerstreet

on Apr 21, 2006

Oh, there is certainly a conflict of interest, which is why the VP made the arrangements he made:

"Dick Cheney ties

In recent years the company has become the center of many controversies involving the 2003 Iraq War and the company's ties to US Vice President Dick Cheney. Cheney retired from the company during the 2000 U.S. presidential election campaign with a severance package worth $20 million. His deferred compensation from Halliburton, which appeared on his 2001 financial disclosure statement, generated an income between $50,000 and $100,000. Cheney also retains 433,000 share-equivalent unexercised stock options at Halliburton.

Concerns have been raised regarding the possible conflict of interest resulting from Cheney's deferred compensation from Halliburton. However, before entering office in 2001, Cheney bought an insurance policy that guaranteed a fixed amount of deferred payments from Halliburton each year for five years so that the payments would not depend on the company's fortunes.[1] He is legally bound by an agreement he signed which turns over power of attorney to a trust administrator to sell the options at some future time and to give the after-tax profits to three charities. The agreement specifies that 40% will go to the University of Wyoming (Cheney's home state), 40% will go to George Washington University's medical faculty to be used for tax-exempt charitable purposes, and 20% will go to Capital Partners for Education. The agreement states that it is "irrevocable and may not be terminated, waived or amended," preventing Cheney from taking back the options at a later date.[1]

The options owned by the Cheney's have been valued at nearly $8 million, his attorney says. Such valuations are rough estimates only -- the actual value will depend on what happens to stock prices in the future, which of course can't be known beforehand. However, giving up rights to the future profits constitutes a significant financial sacrifice, and a sizeable donation to the chosen charities.[1]" (Link)

You don't have to "prove" conflict of interest when the VP is also a big part of a huge company that relies on government contracts. The conflict of interest was obvious even to him, thus he made efforts to separate himself from that conflict. That's a good thing.

Much of his charitable donations, though, are part of the scheduled plan for him NOT to benefit from anything Haliburton benefits from in terms of Iraq, etc. Charity it is, mind you, and charity is good, but there's also no reason to assume that had he not gotten VP that the money would still be going there.

I use the word 'iffy' because most presidents would have seen the haliburton thing coming and chosen to avoid it by picking someone else. It has caused no end of grief. That assumes, though, that the President picked the VP, and not the other way around LOL .

kingbee

on Apr 21, 2006

apparently there are donations and donations.

t. boone pickens (oil gazillionaire and unscathed cheney hunting buddy--unscathed to date, anyway) is clearly playin this katrina thing for all it's worth.

according to wikipedia:

Pickens and employees of his BP Capital LLC donated $5 million to the Hurricane Katrina relief effort.

On December 30, 2005, Pickens made a controversial $165 million gift to Oklahoma State University. According to the New York Times, "the money spent less than an hour on Dec. 30 in the account of the university's charity, O.S.U. Cowboy Golf Inc., before it was invested in a hedge fund controlled by Mr. Pickens, BP Capital Management."[1] Pickens earned a massive tax deduction, taking advantage of laws passed in the wake of Hurricane Katrina allowing charitable gifts equal to 100 percent of a taxpayer's adjusted gross income, twice the usual limit of 50 percent. Pickens, who is on the board of the O.S.U. Cowboy Golf, retains the ability to use the funds for buyout deals and leverage operations to benefit his personal interests. The gift is intended to help fund an upgrade of the football stadium and construction of an athletic village, but sparked controversy because OSU planned to use eminent domain to acquire residental property for the projects. [2] The donation comes after a $70 million gift from Pickens to OSU in 2003, which was similarly structured using O.S.U. Cowboy Golf, Inc. [3]

evil? he ain't vlad the impaler or dr mengele.

far as i'm concerned, no matter how much money he has he aint worth shit.Link

kingbee

on Apr 21, 2006

That assumes, though, that the President picked the VP, and not the other way around LOL .

Dr Guy

on Apr 22, 2006

On April 20th, 2001 the stock was trading at $37.03 per share. Five years later it is trading at $82.80. A modest increase of 224%. Source: http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=67605&p=irol-stocklookup&t=HistQuote

Vice President Cheney sure is lucky! I mean, how lucky can you get that the stock that you own as Vice President just happens to more than double during the time that you are in office! What are the odds?

And what has happened to the stock market since then? It is not luck. Picking a low point arbitrarily is not luck. ANd he did not keep it. He donated it. Luck? Right. Dont forget to check those teeth on that gift horse as you look into his mouth.

Dr Guy

on Apr 22, 2006

Our stock went up as well. He invested wisely. That tells me he's got a good head on his shoulders. GOOD FOR HIM.

But your name is not Dick Cheney, so no one will castigate you foir profiting from a rising stock market.

Dr Guy

on Apr 22, 2006

Yes Cheney is profiting on his stocks.

And donating all of it to charity. But yet that is supposed to be Evil!

Dr Guy

on Apr 22, 2006

Double post please delete thanks.

Done. I hate those too!

Dr Guy

on Apr 22, 2006

Whether it is or is not, what is wrong with what he did? That is the gist of this article.

Dr Guy

on Apr 22, 2006

Wiggle is probably a bad choice of words. He agreed to do it. He did it. NOthing illegal, immoral or unethical about it. Yet they vilify him for doing it.

Dr Guy

on Apr 22, 2006

I use the word 'iffy' because most presidents would have seen the haliburton thing coming and chosen to avoid it by picking someone else. It has caused no end of grief. That assumes, though, that the President picked the VP, and not the other way around

And that is the idiocy of it. There is no problem with Haliburton. Cheney did not profit. ANd donated any gains to charity, no profit there. To be prescience is all fine and good, but excuse me, Politicians are not Jean Dixon. I find it totally ludicrous and duplicitous for anyone to find any degree of illegality, imoraliity or unethical behaviour in this story. Pick at the nits all yoiu want. But there are no issues here that warrant this kind of stupidity.

Dr Guy

on Apr 22, 2006

evil? he ain't vlad the impaler or dr mengele.

far as i'm concerned, no matter how much money he has he aint worth shit.Link

WHich is fine. NO one wants you to love Cheney or Pickens. But I noted that you did not condemn him for his donation. The same cannot be said for the clowns in this article.

Welcome Guest! Please take the time to register with us.
There are many great features available to you once you register, including:

Richer content, access to many features that are disabled for guests like commenting on the forums.
Access to a great community, with a massive database of many, many areas of interest.
Access to contests & subscription offers like exclusive emails.
It's simple, and FREE!