Community Stories

Joe Biden's Rolex, and the Farce of the 'Everyman' President

cvalue13
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Archer Archer
Strange that people get twisted up so much over what a watch a politician wears is worth,

Have you heard what people get up to around birth certificates? Some have even converted it into their very own presidency... 🤔
 
S.H.
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Archer Archer
Strange that people get twisted up so much over what a watch a politician wears is worth, and this seems to be a particularly US thing. I think our current PM wears an IWC, and really, who cares. It's their money - they can do with it as they please.

Not particularly, it is much worse where I live. In France a president was a bit bashed because he was spotted wearing a Navitimer (I think it was Sarkosy). I don't even want to imagine the noise if our current president was sporting a Rolex. A farce indeed.
 
Archer
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S.H. S.H.
Not particularly, it is much worse where I live. In France a president was a bit bashed because he was spotted wearing a Navitimer (I think it was Sarkosy). I don't even want to imagine the noise if our current president was sporting a Rolex. A farce indeed.

Well, that's France...sort of a "special" place...


Similar, but not quite the same, as our Quebec...

😉
 
Dan S
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Archer Archer
Strange that people get twisted up so much over what a watch a politician wears is worth, and this seems to be a particularly US thing. I think our current PM wears an IWC, and really, who cares. It's their money - they can do with it as they please.

One of my childhood friends is a political campaign consultant. Earlier in his career he worked on the campaign of a senator from Michigan. One of the interesting things he told me was that the senator could never be seen riding in a foreign car. If someone was going to give him a ride somewhere, it had to be in a Ford, Chevy, etc., since they couldn't risk the backlash of having a photo of him in a Toyota.
 
Archer
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Dan S Dan S
One of my childhood friends is a political campaign consultant. Earlier in his career he worked on the campaign of a senator from Michigan. One of the interesting things he told me was that the senator could never be seen riding in a foreign car. If someone was going to give him a ride somewhere, it had to be in a Ford, Chevy, etc., since they couldn't risk the backlash of having a photo of him in a Toyota.

In Michigan, that is completely understandable. Back when I was employed by a Tier 1 automotive supplier, all our sales people were only allowed to drive American brand cars...preferably the brand of the customer you were assigned to cover, so the Ford guy would drive a Ford, the GM guy a GM, and the pointy star guy a pointy star car...
 
Larry S
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Years ago I worked for a small, UK based, far left wing personal care products company. A supplier of mine was the only guy who could reproduce oil paintings on T Shirts (we sold them for huge $$$ in the stores), one day he left my office and my boss confronted me in the hallway over the Mercedes he was driving. “He supplies Mercedes USA. They are a huge long time customer. What is he supposed to drive?” said I. That was the end of the conversation.
 
Sidrox25
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The guys is President of the USA. If he wears a Gold Submariner then I would say that's a bit much. But an entry level datejust I say more power to him. He represents a country imagine if he wore sweatpants etc. He needs to look a part within reason or a sweet spot. I think him wearing a good suit, nice shoes, and a good watch is all OK in my book. I'd say him choosing that watch shows he has taste/class.
 
Vercingetorix
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I knew a bunch of advertising guys and all of them had a pair of Nikes and a pair of Adidas under their desks. They did work for both companies.
 
Professor
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Evitzee Evitzee
False rumour.
A lot of that going around these days, from the looting of Lincoln's bust to the Diet Coke button. Takes a few days for the press to admit they were wrong if ever, though once in print it will be accepted as fact by most regardless of retractions.
The Guardian for example prints spurious stories in bold on the front page and prints retractions as a short paragraph deep in the back pages.
 
cvalue13
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Vercingetorix Vercingetorix
I knew a bunch of advertising guys and all of them had a pair of Nikes and a pair of Adidas under their desks. They did work for both companies.

My law firm represented Pepsi, and during a much fabled meeting a good intentioned, unwitting assistant served Coke products. The next day, the entire global firm's offices were swept of all Coke products.
 
JwRosenthal
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I dated a woman about 10 years ago who’s family was very working class ‘Merkin. We went to their house for Easter brunch and when we got out of my Audi, her uncle’s first words to me were “must be nice to drive an Audi”. I paid $16.5k for my used Audi- he had a $60k Hemi truck in his driveway parked in front of his $80k camper.

To those who throw stones at Biden’s watch collection- how much does a fully outfitted AR-15 cost? We all have hobbies.
 
MRC
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Vercingetorix Vercingetorix
I knew a bunch of advertising guys and all of them had a pair of Nikes and a pair of Adidas under their desks. They did work for both companies.
I used to work with someone in Detroit who sold Ford a lot of computers for their CAD systems. Made enough commission to buy a fancy new BMW each year. When he visited Ford he took his wife's 6 year old Fiesta.
 
BlackTalon
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Archer Archer
Meanwhile in Congress...

Wealth.jpg
I have struggled with this. I vote against Don Beyer every election, but I bought my Volvo from his dealership 17 years ago. I do avoid bringing it to them for service (mainly DIY since it's well past any warranty). He owns the three Volvo dealerships in my area; the closest one owned by someone else is a good trek from my home and office. At the time I bought my car that other dealership would have needed to order the model and it was not guaranteed.
 
64Wing
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JwRosenthal JwRosenthal
I dated a woman about 10 years ago who’s family was very working class ‘Merkin. We went to their house for Easter brunch and when we got out of my Audi, her uncle’s first words to me were “must be nice to drive an Audi”. I paid $16.5k for my used Audi- he had a $60k Hemi truck in his driveway parked in front of his $80k camper.

To those who throw stones at Biden’s watch collection- how much does a fully outfitted AR-15 cost? We all have hobbies.
I spec'd out my ultimate AR the other day... Very expensive, very pretty, and someday I'll have it.

You make a good point regarding relativity of money and perception. Sure, a Rolex is an expensive item for 99% of the world. But have you priced a new truck lately?
 
Foo2rama
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Dan S Dan S
One of my childhood friends is a political campaign consultant. Earlier in his career he worked on the campaign of a senator from Michigan. One of the interesting things he told me was that the senator could never be seen riding in a foreign car. If someone was going to give him a ride somewhere, it had to be in a Ford, Chevy, etc., since they couldn't risk the backlash of having a photo of him in a Toyota.

in Michigan of course!!! Not as much now as Toyota has plants there. But OMG in Mi and Ohio it was blasphemous not to drive an American car.
 
texasmade
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cvalue13 cvalue13
My law firm represented Pepsi, and during a much fabled meeting a good intentioned, unwitting assistant served Coke products. The next day, the entire global firm's offices were swept of all Coke products.
When I did accounting consulting, my firm had Coke as a client. Whenever you went to Coca Cola's HQ, you weren't allowed to bring in any outside drink products that wasn't Coca Cola branded. Even Starbucks was forbidden.
 
JwRosenthal
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274DDC5A-93A7-4F2E-A361-9C276F1E7E50.jpeg


These guys are wearing a Datejust worth of body armor and each carrying a Tin-tin worth of firepower....it’s all relative.
 
Keith88lx
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I used to travel to Detroit a lot to do compliance audits. I always made sure I grabbed a GM or Ford as my rental car. Had a colleague ask why didn't we just grab a Kia? I never did let him schedule the rental cars in Detroit.
 
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