Palins' finances unusual for Alaskans

Hey, headline writers, is "Wealthly" a word? Perhaps you meant "Wealthy."

I am surprised by the tenor of this article which is decidedly negative toward Ms. Palin. An income of a quarter million makes you "hugely successful"? Come on. She's not even a millionaire. In these times, making a million doesn't make you hugely successful. When I think hugely successful, I think of names like Gates, Jobs, Walton. A house worth half a mil in San Francisco is probably toward the lower end of the market. If you don't like the woman, then you are too biased to right about her. Find another beat.

What a cheap attempt to denigrate the life's work of an American family. The plane has been in the family for more than 20 years. The boats are small fishing boats and one is homemade.

The joke is that the Obama's have an income of $4.2 million for 2007. That is 100 times the average income for the average Illinois resident of $42,000.

I don't quite understand what Jerry Seper is getting at. Sarah and her husband have completed a fair amount of education. Palin's husband is an engineer. They are hard working, ambitious enough to attempt to run a business. They have done better than some other people. They made their money honestly. All of this is interesting to know. However the tone of the article is negative, implying that they shouldn't be where they are because there are other people who haven't done as well. Excuse me! Jerry, get a life!

Wow, First Dude made $120,000/year as an engineer with BP, and he doesn't even have a college degree? Now that's living the American dream! Sign me up!

I'm not sure what the point of the article is, but I know that I'm not impressed with Governor Palin. Her recent interviews on CBS and other networks should alarm us all.

I am no fan of McCain or Palin, AT ALL, but, in all fairness, I did not see anything disturbing about them from this article. Looks like they came from nothing, worked hard and made some good investment and career decisions, and breed a lot. The fact that her husband gave up a more lucrative job so as not to create a problem in her political career, speaks volumes for him. Discount some possibly misinterpreted info reported in this article. About Mr P's income, my dyslexic brother-in-law is a plumber and makes more than that. Not sure what the arguement is here.

Jerry Seeper has done some great reporting. But I'm also lost on the point here. Palin and her husband are in their 40s and have a small plane (not a Lear Jet), a 401k, and a $500k house. I don't have the small plane, but I do have a boat, a car, a truck, a 401k, IRAs, and a house worth much more than $500k. I can't see Russia, but I can see 100 miles or so of the Sierra mountains. As long as Tony Rezko didn't buy an adjacent lot, the Palins sound like your basic American story.

What is the purpose of this article? Are her finances are unusual for an average Alaskan? She's not average, she is the Governor. A plane and two boats? Bush planes are a common mode of transportation in the Alaskan wilderness. Boats are no different. The author is "phishing". This article belongs on the blog sites not on the Washington Times.

Jerry Seper apparently has never been to Alaska, nor cares to research the background facts. Because of its size, air travel is by far the most efficient way to get around a state of over 580,000 square miles miles. Alaska has six times as many airplane pilots per capita, and 16 times as many aircraft per capita, as the rest of the United States. A small single engine aircraft is akin to having an old Chevy Pickup in Alaska. Owning a boat? Todd is a commercial fisherman, the family - like most Alaskans - live off the land by fishing and hunting in order to survive or supplement their food supplies. Owning a boat, Jerry - this is not a million dollar Cigarette Boat or a Miami Yacht. I think Jerry Seper needs to get out of Georgetown a little more often.

How about that, my wife and I are mere federal civil servants and appear to be better off financially than the Palins.

Sometimes it seems to me that the "end-game" of the Democratic Party's leadership is that every American would "enjoy" the median income of the country -- no more, no less -- regardless of work ethic, education, or experience. The one exception, of course, would be for themselves since they would be the "rulers." Sounds a lot like the Soviet Union to me.

After browsing a few of the responses to this article, it seems to me that most of the readers are wondering what the point of this article is and why its author seems to display no knowledge of Alaskan lifestyles. Well I can't speak to the Alaskan lifestyle issue but I can say it seems the point of this article is for us to be outraged. We are supposed to say to ourselves "how dare they own "x" amount of homes, and a boat!" I'm not a Mccain Palin supporter but I too wonder what the point of this article is. Yes, Palin's finances are unusual for Alaska but only in that they part with the median of statistics. What is not unusual is that the Palin family enjoys what is on par for a woman who has worked her way up through the government ranks to become a governer. Her husband also held high paying positions. So why can't they have "X" number of houses, a plane, or whatever they can afford. What parallell does this author wish that we draw between Palin's lifestyle and that of other Alaskans.

Their son was born less that eight months after they were married. Yes! They wanted to save money on a wedding. More conservative family values. Where are the real republicans?