How Big Are the Bucks for Hill and Bill?

Yesterday, it came out that Hillary and Bill Clinton had made $109 million altogether since Bill Clinton left office.

But that's hardly surprising. Hillary Clinton and Bill Clinton both wrote bestselling memoirs and --well, let's face it--they've both had interesting lives to write about.

Likewise it's not surprising that Bill Clinton has made a ton of money in public speaking or that his friends have brought him into lucrative investments. Bill's the kind of charismatic guy who draws people to him like a magnet. His friends push great investment opportunities his way, corporations want to hear him speak, and everybody wants to contribute to his charities.

What is surprising is that Bill and Hillary Clinton waited so long to cash in on their talent.

The news media and casual observers think that going into politics is a natural thing. But that's not the case at all. Most people at the upper level of government are smart, driven people who would have still been famous and still made a ton of money if they hadn't been involved in politics. Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Dick Cheney, Newt Gingrich, and Tom DeLay are all people who sacrificed an enormous amount of wealth by going into politics as young men and women. If Bill and Hillary Clinton had gone to New York instead of Arkansas in 1973 and worked in corporate law rather than Arkansas state government from 1978 to 1993, their joint wealth would probably be closer to the $1,000,000,000 level than the paltry hundred million they have now. With Bill's charisma, it's easy to imagine that people proposing deals for mergers, leveraged buyouts, and IPO's would have flown to his office as easily as the robins and blue jays fly outside my window. If Bill Clinton's friends are letting him in on lucrative deals how, how many lucrative deals would he have had in the 80's and 90's.

The same with Hillary. She was a highly successful lawyer in Arkansas before Bill became president. She would have been a lot more successful in New York.

But instead of rainmaking in the Big Apple, Hillary and Bill started climbing the political ladder. Instead of being worth a few hundred million in 1992, Bill Clinton was making $35,000 as Governor of Arkansas.

As in so many things, the Bush administration is somewhat of an exception here. Geore Bush was even a bigger failure as a businessman than he's been as President.

But being a successful politician usually involves an enormous amount of financial sacrifice and Hillary and Bill Clinton have sacrificed more than just about anybody.