Billionaire Joe Biden?

If the United States kept this one rule Joe Biden would be the richest American, and perhaps richest person ever.

George Washington is known for many things, but one thing that is often overlooked is his tremendous wealth. Washington was the richest man in America, with a networth of almost $600,000,000. His Mount Vernon estate had over 500 slaves work their during Washington’s lifetime. With the unpaid labor done by his slaves, Washington amassed a large fortune.

Since Washington was the richest American, he didn’t see a need for a Presidential salary and refused to take one, but the Constitution stated that the President ought to be compensated for their work. Washington’s salary as President was $25,000. With inflation that comes out to around $700,000 today. While $700,000 is a lot of money, it’s not that much of a difference from the $400,000 that President Biden earns annually.

Washington’s salary of $25,000 was equivalent to 2% of the United States budget in 1789. Currently the United States Budget is at $6.8T. If we were to calculate 2% of the United States budget today it would be a whopping $136,000,000,000. Luckily for the citizens of the United States Joe Biden doesn’t make over $100 billion annually. The President is responsible for setting the US Budget, therefore if the United States tied Presidential salary to a percentage of the budget, the President could constantly increase budget spending to secure a pay raise.

We should all be glad that over the last 231 years the United States has altered how they pay their Presidents.