The wealth of Betsy DeVos expanded by $100 Million in 2019, but none of the West Michigan news sources have reported on that fact

Transparency is rare with the members of the Capitalist Class, and the DeVos family is one family that doesn’t like to share it personal wealth.

However, when one of the members of your family happens to be part of the federal government, then there are some requirements about divulging your personal wealth. Based on the documentation that Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos was legally required to submit, we get a closer understanding of how much her wealth grew in 2019.

According to research by the group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), Betsy DeVos expanded her personal wealth by at least $50 million in 2019, but quite like by more than $100 million. According to CREW: 

It is possible that DeVos earned significantly more than $100 million in 2019 because she is not required to specify amounts received from particular assets above $1 million for her spouse or amounts above $5 million for herself. In her most recent disclosure, DeVos reported income from 11 sources that exceeded $1 million or $5 million without specifying the actual amount received.

If you look at the 77-page document submitted by Betsy DeVos, you can see exactly what the researchers at CREW were talking about in regard to the vagueness surrounding assets that Betsy and her husband Dick DeVos have. 

Many of us who have followed the DeVos family closely over the years are aware of assets such as Alitcor, RDV Corporation, The Windquest Group, RDV Sports, The Stow Company, Boxed Water and Neurocore, but there are dozens of asset entries that are not as familiar.

Betsy DeVos has assets in numerous Grand Rapids and Holland real estate entities, such as DBD Properties LLC, Ada Holdings LLC, 130 Central Avenue LLC, 139 River Avenue LLC and Holland Property Holdings LLC, just to name a few.

Then there are some assets that she has investments in, such as CWD 111 Lyon LLC and DWD Urban Fund, both of which show that she has over $1 million in assets. Again, this is rather vague, because it could mean multiple millions in those assets.

Betsy DeVos also lists assets with GR Michigan Street Holdings, 50 Monroe II LLC, Northside Entertainment Holdings and the Bridge Street Capital Fund.

Now, it should come as no surprise that people who are part of the federal government are personally worth a disgusting amount of money. OpenSecrets.org provides us with the personal wealth of those in Congress, where we find that the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, is worth $114 Million. 

However, the personal wealth of those who claim to be working for the public, should be a major issue and a major concern, especially in light of the fact that the wealth gap between the super rich and everyone else has grown at a staggering rate over the past 20 years.

Lastly, it is rather troubling that none of the West Michigan news outlets have reported on the matter of the growth of Betsy DeVos’ personal wealth while serving as Secretary of Education, especially since so much of her wealth is tied to this community. We need the kind of journalism that will not hesitate to provide a detailed accounting of those who are members of the Grand Rapids Power Structure, in order to be able to effectively organize against those with tremendous economic and political power in West Michigan.