"A wise and frugal government which shall restrain men
from injuring one another, which shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government."
(Thomas Jefferson)


Saturday, August 7, 2010

How Much is Obama Family Costing the US Taxpayers for Travel and White House Parties?

UPDATE: Would bet the trip is going to cost more than they are estimating in this article because it doesn't look like the cargo plans that brought over the USSS SUV's is counted in the price and they have not taken into account that it cost $500,000 to $1M for the Obama date night in New York so staying at this posh hotel has to cost much more. Seeing her sight seeing in Sparin while many of us are pinching pennies is beyond disgusting. Now we learn they closed a public beach to those who are on a holiday with their own money. Obvious she wants to be Queen but her time clock is ticking when they will no longer occupy the White House. Even though former Presidents get good benefits, we won't be picking up the tab of their using Air Force planes as taxi's as then they will have a budget. Even Clinton had to get a cheaper office then he wanted because he was too cheap to supplement what the Feds were giving him.

Current law says that a President and his family has USSS for 10 years after they leave office (Dems put that law in place) -- want to bet it is changed for Obama?
Spanish police close public beach for Michelle Obama's £250,000 Spanish holiday
By Mail Foreign ServiceLast updated at 9:49 PM on 6th August 2010

Michelle Obama today faced a fresh wave of attacks over her lavish break in Spain with 40 friends, which could easily cost U.S. taxpayers a staggering £50,000 a day.

The First Lady has been lambasted for her extravagance at a time when the economy is still struggling. One blogger went so far as to brand her a modern-day Marie Antoinette.

And her critics will be further annoyed when they learn that the president's wife had a Spanish beach closed off today so that she, her daughter and their entourage could go for a swim.

Spanish police cleared off a stretch of beach at the Villa Padierna Hotel in Marbella after the Obamas had finished a busy day of sightseeing.
_____
Why is Michelle Obama walking so far ahead of her
daughter on this mother/daughter trip?

With Michelle Obama and their youngest daughter in Spain on a lavish vacation, Obama in Chicago for fundraising, and their oldest daughter at overnight camp, how much money is the taxpayer spending just on USSS alone for this family this week? Are the Democrats reimbursing the Air Force for Obama's travel to Chicago for fundraisers? Legitimate questions that need answers.

We are not expecting answers anytime soon as taxpayers have yet to find out who was on the Air Force One plane that scared New Yorkers last year with their flyover dubbed later as photo op. The date night trip for the Obamas to New York City was estimated to cost about $500,000 to $1M of our tax dollars. That means the trip to Spain is going to far exceed that cost so his wife can take another vacation. Do the Obama's have something against the White House that they want to travel so much? A recent trip for 59 minutes to Ohio cost the taxpayers $500,000+ in cost for an Obama speech.

Amid all these trips including the one for the Olympics, Obama freezes pay for government employees (active and retired) and social security recipients but he didn't freeze the cost of healthcare which went up resulting in a net loss of income. Now we find out while the Obamas use Air Force planes like a taxi service, they went Government employees to use mass transportation.

White House Urges Federal Workers To Travel Less, Use Mass Transit"

President Barack Obama wants federal workers to cut down on business travel and commuting by car as he seeks to reduce heat-trapping emissions produced by the federal government.

The White House was announcing Tuesday that the government will aim to reduce carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions from indirect sources like employee driving by 13 percent in 2020, compared with 2008 levels.

(snip)

Employee travel and commuting account for the biggest category of what the White House calls indirect sources of pollution, so the main way to limit them will be encouraging employees to travel less for business and to use mass transit for their commutes. Other sources of indirect pollution are waste disposal and energy that is lost through inefficient electricity transmission.
Obama wants Federal employees to cut down on trips while his wife vacations in Spain and he is in Chicago on our nickle? We have a suggestion for Mr. Obama and his wife -- stay home and quit traveling on our nickle for a date night to New York, a 59-minute stay on the ground in Ohio for a speech, vacation in Maine where a separate plane brought the dog and more staff, separate vacation trips for Obama and his wife, and the list goes on. Now we learn instead of using a motorcade that would have taken 12 minutes longer, he uses Marine One. When does Mr. No Transparency work? Oh wait, he doesn't like that word when applied to him.

How much did Obama's trip cost when he used a helicopter instead of a motorcade to give a speech?

President Barack Obama left the White House this morning for a six-mile trip to a sign factory on the Maryland-D.C. border. But instead of taking the presidential motorcade, he took Marine One – the presidential helicopter.

A quick search on Google maps shows the drive would have taken at least 20 minutes, but the helicopter trip took just eight. And, according to one unofficial estimate, it was the 300th trip Obama has taken in Marine One since taking office 20 months ago.

(snip)

Still, “It would be very helpful to the taxpayers if there was a distinct White House travel budget and everybody could look at it,” Schatz added. “Is it really a state secret to know how much is being spent on his travel?”
That last paragraph is the money quote. There seems to be no distinct travel budget for the White House. As taxpayers, it looks like we have no right to see how much the Obama's are spending on travel for their weekend getaways, vacations, and political funding raising trips not to mention the short on the ground stay of Obama making speeches. Are the Democrats reimbursing the Air Force for political trips like this current one to Chicago where he was doing fundraising for the unethical Democrat Illinois Treasurer and mob supporter running for Senate? One thing is definite -- there is no transparency with Obama on anything.

US President Barack Obama (L) waves as he arrives to speak
on behalf of Senate Candidate Alexi Giannoulias at the
Palmer House Hilton in Chicago, Illinois, on August 5, 2010

Guess you could sum up Obama as he would rather travel and golf than work in the White House which leaves all of us with the question, "Who is doing his work as the President in his absence?"

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