JEB America's Next Bush
S.V. Date, Author
Tarcher/Penguin c2007
Smashed Frog invites all to join the discussion here every Thursday as we educate the public to finally close the book on JEB.
Ann Richards once said that George H.W. Bush Sr. was lucky enough to be born on third base, yet continue to believe he hit a stand-up triple. Jeb-with brains, a willingness to learn, and with all the right social and business connections-hit his own triple.
Between 1980 and 1993, Jeb went from no savings and mammoth credit card debt to a net worth of $2.2 million.
Author S.V. Date describes how the man made his money-quick-in Chapter Three. Miami.
How Jeb Became a Millionaire
"Imagine. You are twenty-right years old, with five years of experience in one field, followed by two years on a totally unrelated project. What do you suppose the odds are that an extremely wealthy, extremely successful businessman will come and offer to make you a full partner, with a 40 per cent share of the profits, in a completed unrelated third enterprise, in which you have no one iota of knowledge?" (Date, 81)
In Miami-1981-these are precisely the circumstances John Ellis Bush found himself in.
</div>Armando Codina, a Coral Gables Cuban-American real estate investor was an early supporter of George Sr. Codina was so tight with the president that he gave Jeb Bush more than his first job in Florida. Codina added his name to the shingle and gave him 40% of the profits.
The Codina Bush Group was formed.
One Miami real estate deal is typical of the privileged pattern of Bush's wealth-building: invest little but reap lots. In 1984, Bush put just $1,000 in an office building called Museum Tower. By 1990, he sold out for about $346,000. Similar deals followed. Who made it possible? Armando Codina.
In 1984, Codina and Bush bought 1390 Brickell, a Miami office building. A third partner defaulted and a savings and loan that held the note went belly up. Federal S&L regulators came in to "clean up the mess" by allowing Codina and Bush to keep the building-by closing out the $4.56 million Broward Federal liability for a mere $505,000.
Bush and Codina paid $1.3 million in income tax on the forgiven loan.
They sold it in 1991. For $8-million.
Bush characterizes the selling price as enough to cover their costs and legal fees, to break "even".
If the feds had not been in such a hurry to close the books on Brickell and remained part owner on the building, the feds-at time of sale-would have held a note requiring Jeb and Codina to pay up $4.5 million.
Bush and Codina would have lost $3 million.
The only bail-out going on here was the taxpayers bailing out Bush & Codina. When asked by the St. Pete Times if Bush and Codina were aware that funds for the repayment of the Broward Federal Loan certainly appear to come from taxpayers, Jeb responded, "Hellll no. Absolutely not."
Do the math. Jeb turned a profit. And Florida's political reporters let him get away with it.
We should all be so lucky.
"You either trust me or you don't."
Jeb Bush, 1998
The St. Petersburg Times was referenced in this post.