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Obama’s and Biden’s Finances Hold Steady

There were few surprises in the personal finances of President Barack Obama and Vice President Joseph Biden in 2010, according to annual disclosure reports released by the White House on Monday.

Other than slight fluctuations in the value of retirement funds, Treasury notes and routine checking accounts, the income, investments and liabilities reported by the White House looked very similar to those disclosed the year before.

High-level federal officials must annually disclose their personal financial interests under the Ethics in Government Act of 1978. The forms are then reviewed by ethics officials for conflicts of interest, and the Office of Government Ethics has certified that neither Obama’s nor Biden’s finances presented a conflict of interest in 2010.

Obama’s best-selling books continued to be a lucrative source of income in 2010, according to the disclosure report. His debut memoir, “Dreams From My Father,” first published in 1995 and republished in 2004, generated between $1 million and $5 million in 2010, as it did the year before. Obama’s second book, “The Audacity of Hope,” made between $100,000 and $1 million in royalties last year, a decrease from the $1 million to $5 million reported in 2009.

The president also received $225,000 for the second half of an advance for an abridged version of “Dreams From My Father” geared toward young readers and $133,334 for an advance on the recently published “Of Thee I Sing: A Letter to My Daughters,” an attachment to the form stated.

Biden reported little change in his financial interests, save routine fluctuation in the values of retirement, checking and investment accounts. In the only addition of note, Biden reported rental income from a residential property in Wilmington, Del. The property was valued at $100,000 to $250,000 and generated between $5,000 and $15,000 in rental income last year.

The mortgage associated with that property is between $15,000 and $50,000 with an interest rate of 4.625 percent to be paid over the next 23 years.

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