Hillary Clinton: Midas touch at work
After eight years as first lady and six as a New York senator, this presidential candidate is very rich -- but looking at a big tax bill next year. Tim Middleton
Hillary Clinton caused a stir in the early 1990s, when it was revealed that the first lady, in 1978, had turned $1,000 into $100,000 in 10 months by trading cattle futures as the wife of Arkansas' attorney general.
These days, that gain would barely register in her portfolio, which has grown as large as $50 million, according to a campaign-disclosure filing with the Federal Election Commission.
Clintonhas never lost her Midas touch. As much as $25 million of the current total was contained in a blind trust that the Democratic presidential candidate and her husband established in 1993, when Bill Clinton became president. The trust was valued at just $1 million when it was established.
The Clintons' fast-growing wealth is a clear demonstration that it pays to have smart, influential people working hard to make your money grow, an advantage they have had dating to the cattle-trading days.
The vanishing portfolio
The trust was dissolved earlier this year after its holdings were disclosed and immediately drew fire from activists because of numerous holdings in corporations unpopular among left-wing Democrats, including pharmaceutical, oil and defense companies, as well as Wal-Mart Stores (WMT, news, msgs) -- where Hillary Clinton served on the board from 1986 to 1992 -- and Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. (NWS, news, msgs).
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