Ezra Klein: Tony Snow And The Money

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August 31, 2007

Tony Snow And The Money

As expected, Tony Snow is resigning his post to, as Atrios put it, "spend more time with his conscience." Sorry, just kidding. I have no idea whether Snow has a conscience. He's resigning because he's out of money. Not long ago, he told Hugh Hewitt that "I’m not going to be able to go the distance, but that’s primarily for financial reasons. I’ve told people when my money runs out, then I’ve got to go."

Snow makes $170,000 a year. Real median income in this country is about $50,000. So this White House spokesperson doesn't think you can live on $170,000, but repeatedly told the press corps that "It is worth reminding people of how good this economy is."

August 31, 2007 | Permalink

Comments

Not to mention that he must have been making a fuckton of money on Fox. Wasn't the Bush administration trying to propagate some sort of culture of investment? Did he spend it all? Or was his lifestyle just to lavish to spend another year and whatever making 17o grand?

Posted by: Eric the Political Hack | Aug 31, 2007 2:44:51 PM

i think with tony snow's health problems, it must have been very difficult to do that job.
over the past months, i thought he was pretty courageous.
...it must have been hard to maintain a facade amidst those daily pressures, with all that he was going through.

Posted by: jacqueline | Aug 31, 2007 2:51:22 PM

The guy has metastasized cancer. Have you seen him lately on TV? He's aged about 20 years in the last six months. It seems to me there are better targets fro snark in the Admin just now.

Posted by: jbd | Aug 31, 2007 2:52:46 PM

This actually isn't snark. Snow is resigning. He says he;s doing it for financial reasons. Given that his cancer is public, I see no reason not to take him at his word, and look into what that means. Even if it's a cover, the idea that a good cover would be you can't survive on $170,000 is very odd...

Posted by: Ezra | Aug 31, 2007 2:59:17 PM

Eric, if you spend down your investments it defeats the purpose. Don't know about Snow in particular, but lots of Washington appointees maintain two homes, send their kids to private schools, and spend a lot of money living up to the style they established on a much higher income, as their DC peers do. Hell, they're used to being rich. (And, as everyone suspects, he may not be feeling well.)

Posted by: Sanpete | Aug 31, 2007 2:59:31 PM

So the takeaway here is that even if you're a privileged person with a salary many times that of the median person and quite likely very good health coverage, if you get hit by a medical emergency you can't avoid, it's damn near impossible to make ends meet.

Posted by: SDM | Aug 31, 2007 3:02:23 PM

Maybe he can get that Edwards hedge fund job and go study poverty for $500K a year?

Posted by: Scott | Aug 31, 2007 3:04:40 PM

In Tony Snow's defense (just saying that makes me feel dirty), I think that making $170K when you've been making $1M (or whatever) is different from making $170K when you've been making $40K. If you've been making more, you've probably extended yourself in a manner that was perfectly comfortable at $1M but is very difficult at less than a quarter of that. E.g. you've got a house payment based on that income, etc.

Posted by: Jason G. | Aug 31, 2007 3:08:57 PM

"This actually isn't snark."

You are asshole.

Posted by: mik_infidelos | Aug 31, 2007 3:16:57 PM

The salient point to him I would imagine is that the odds are very good he will be dead within 3 years (if that). Can you really blame the man for wanting to take care of his wife and kids as best he can in the time he's got? To leave them as comfortable as possible? I know I sure would.

Posted by: Scott | Aug 31, 2007 3:22:17 PM

Look, I don't like the guy's politics and I can't stand his boss, but the way he's handling his departure is "old school" and classy. He's not making some kind of maudlin speech about the fact that he's in a battle for his life, even though he obviously is. It's become so common in American life to make a grotesque spectacle of your personal hardships to ham for the cameras that maybe we've lost the ability to recognize someone who has too much dignity to do that.

Anyway, Snow may be thinking of augmenting what he can leave his wife and kids, because he may not have much time left. Ezra, you're a good guy, but you wrote without thinking on this one.

Posted by: jbd | Aug 31, 2007 3:30:45 PM

Ezra, I do think your post here is a bit of a cheap shot. Not that I particularly object to cheap shots (of which I've taken plenty) against anyone who's connected in any way, shape or form with the Bush administration or Fox News officials -- bring it on, bitchez!

But still -- most people tend to live just barely withing their means, and once you've gotten used to a certain standard of living, it's difficult to cut back. Snow might be making, say, half as much now as he was when he was with Fox. You might say there's all kinds of things he can do to live within his now significantly reduced means -- like trading in his house for a less expensive one, for example.

But it's not always so easy to unload real estate, especially in this housing market, and as Robert Frank among others has pointed out, housing is directly tied to education, with kids in rich districts with big houses getting much higher quality education. So his kids' education (I assume he has kids) is another factor to consider here.

There's also, of course, the fact that he has cancer, and may very well want to earn as much money as he possibly can to provide for his family in the event of his death.

There's a lot of interesting research that shows that, when it comes to economics, people fear a loss much more than they value a gain. If they have a dollar they'd much rather hold onto it than take a bet that brings a small chance that they might lose that dollar, even if, on average, that same bet would net them much more money.

So the fact that Snow is making a lot less money now than he used to is probably a lot harder on him and his family than we realize. When people like you and me hear the figure "$170,000", that sounds like unimaginable riches to us. But to someone used to making twice that much or more, it sounds like a pittance.

Really, it's not that I want to defend the guy. Your point that he is completely out of touch with the economic realities of ordinary Americans is well-taken. But there is a certain human economic reality here that you may not understand. And, at the risk of sounding extremely condescending (sorry!), that I didn't understand when I was your age, but that I definitely get now.

Neoclassical economic theory is refreshingly clear on this point -- the rational, utility-maximizing economic agent is always going to take the job with the highest wage, and if she doesn't, the compensating differentials have to be awfully high. Which, to put it mildly, they don't seem to be in this case. Can you think of a shittier job than spokesperson for the Bush administration? Even if you're a conservative and you just looovvvvve everything this administration has done, having that job has got to suck pretty hard.

Posted by: Kathy G. | Aug 31, 2007 3:51:36 PM

God help me for saying this, someone is going to come tear my Industrial Workers of the World posters off my wall, but $170,000 in DC if you are paying a mortgage and have a couple of kids does not make you terribly wealthy. I am not saying cry for the guy's financial state either, but this is an incredibly expensive place to raise a family.

He may also be trying to take care of his family's financial future given his health concerns.

So, all in all, I might tread lightly on this one.

Posted by: Klein's Tiny Left Nut | Aug 31, 2007 4:04:01 PM

Tony Snow is the only person currently associated with this administration who could say he was leaving "to spend more time with his family" and I'd believe him. Given the way folks are describing him, and what I've observed in others, he may have less than 9 months.

Posted by: mk | Aug 31, 2007 4:40:07 PM

Ezra, Snow isn't a politician, so he doesn't have to worry about how middle classes think of his statement. His audience-- the press, the pundits, and the beltway professionals -- are the sort of people who understand, "Oh, yeah, I couldn't pay my kids' tuition and maintain two houses on $170k/yr. Poor guy."

Posted by: Tyro | Aug 31, 2007 4:50:01 PM

Jiminy. Why don't you tell all this to your guy Mr. Edwards?

Posted by: slickdpdx | Aug 31, 2007 5:13:26 PM

Many of your comments are sick and show your hatred for your fellow man. Tony has done a wonderful job as has our president. He is a great American. He has struggled with his battle with cancer. Were is your concern or compassion.

Posted by: Tim Kershaw | Aug 31, 2007 11:06:27 PM

I largely agree with Kathy. If I were in his position as a father to kids ages 10-14, I would be leaving to make the best money I could (probably working less even) so that I could provide my kids and family with as much money as possible after I'm gone. Yes, they probably have more than enough now and especially with life insurance. But as a parent, you feel the need to do as much as you can no matter what.

Maybe I'm sensitive about what I see as a parental decision, even from a man as dishonest as Snow, but I think your point is better made with other examples.

Take a lesson from Hillary on Letterman last night: She was given a chance to joke about and criticize a hypocrite who attacked her family and husband for sexual impropriety, yet she offered her sympathy to his family instead. She came out much farther ahead with that reaction than the easy snark.

Posted by: Tx Bubba | Sep 1, 2007 12:15:55 AM

As I was at work today, I saw a picture of him on CNN. He looked awful because of the cancer, so I felt bad for him. Then I thought that he might have had high medical bills, but with a high income and probably a great medical plan, would that really be a factor? And what is he going to do now that will net him more money? Perhaps he's just resigning because the stress of working for such a hapless administration is getting to him.

Posted by: Brian | Sep 1, 2007 12:16:12 AM

That is brilliant analysis. His job pays 4x what the average job does. More skilled people make more than the less skilled. Good work. What a grand expose on social injustice.

The man is dying of cancer and has kids. He wants to leave them with as much as he can. How dare he maximaze his earnings towards the end of his life.

Incidentally, what does being a writing fellow for the American Prospect make these days? Probably not much, but it probably doesn't require much work either.

Posted by: Rory | Sep 1, 2007 12:44:33 AM

That is brilliant analysis. His job pays 4x what the average job does. More skilled people make more than the less skilled. Good work. What a grand expose on social injustice.

The man is dying of cancer and has kids. He wants to leave them with as much as he can. How dare he maximize his earnings towards the end of his life.

Incidentally, what does being a writing fellow for the American Prospect pay these days? Probably not much, but it probably doesn't require much work either.

Posted by: Rory | Sep 1, 2007 12:47:59 AM

Ezra: A person who pontificates on issues of economic theory ought to understand the idea of opportunity cost. If Snow could be making $1 million at Fox but he's making $170,000 at the White House, the White House job is costing him $830,000 every year. That' a lot of money.

Posted by: Stuart Eugene Thiel | Sep 1, 2007 12:58:39 PM

I do think that it's a bit of a cheap shot, but Snow's circumstances ought to make lazy critics of John Edwards shut the fuck up right now. The rich are different from you and me, and not just (as Hemingway quipped) because they have more money.

(Can I assume that this has got an inbound link from the World's Laziest Law Professor?)

Posted by: pseudonymous in nc | Sep 1, 2007 4:16:44 PM

Interesting. I certainly have great sympathy for the man, and have no reason to believe his decision is not the right one in the circumstances. However, given his illness and his statement that he's leaving for financial reasons, I can't help but wonder if health care costs are a consideration.

Posted by: Anthony Damiani | Sep 1, 2007 11:12:14 PM

Okay, Snow has made a lot more money in the past. He can make much more money right now, even with his illness, which for his sake and his family's sake, I hope he can beat back for a while.

I don't have a problem with the idea of him leaving the job because of the huge disparity in possible income. And if he is really leaving because he thinks he doesn't have much time left, and wants to spend it with his family, I totally respect that he might not want to articulate that, again, to spare his family. It's not like he owes me any details about his life.

I do wish he'd had the courtesy to refrain from claiming financial distress, though. For one thing, he knew how much the job paid going in. For another thing, even absent illness, a White House press secretary isn't expected to stay for years. So you give it maybe one year, tell the family to bear with you while you go to work for your president, then you get out and go back to the bigger money. It's an economy you can predict, with a duration you can control.

And yes, I do understand that he's not claiming poverty, but rather the inability to maintain his family's customary lifestyle. I'd want to maintain my family's lifestyle, too.

Here's what I wish, though, and it's not Snow's fault. Could we please just stop pretending that a yearly income of $20,456 for a family of four means that the family's not eligible for food, housing, or child care assistance?

And I don't think Ezra's out of line regarding this post at all.

Posted by: larkspur | Sep 2, 2007 12:39:10 AM

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