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Obama likes to party! $170 inauguration!
What Recession? The $170 Million Inauguration
Obama's Inauguration Has Been Financed Partially by Bailed-Out Wall Street Executives
By SCOTT MAYEROWITZ
ABC NEWS Business Unit
Jan. 19, 2009—
The country is in the middle of the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, which isn't stopping rich donors and the government from spending $170 million, or more, on theinauguration of Barack Obama .
The actual swearing-in ceremony will cost $1.24 million, according to Carole Florman, spokeswoman for the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies.
It's the security, parties and countless Porta-a-Potty rentals that really run up the bill.
The federal government estimates that it will spend roughly $49 million on the inaugural weekend. Washington, D.C., Virginia and Maryland have requested another $75 million from the federal government to help pay for their share of police, fire and medical services.
And then there is the party bill.
"We have a budget of roughly $45 million, maybe a little bit more," said Linda Douglass, spokeswoman for the inaugural committee.
That's more than the $42.3 million in private funds spent by President Bush's committee in 2005 or the $33 million spent for Bill Clinton's first inaugural in 1993.
[Ed. Note: Article abbreviated to cure copyright violation]Copyright © 2009 ABC News Internet Ventures
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Status Quo anyone?
I'm glad he's starting the "economic stimulous" early, and I'm really not surprised.
Afterall, "change" has come!
The Right is no longer stealing your money and blowing it on up-armored Cadillacs while the troops scrape by with HMMWV's from the 1980's... the LEFT is! And THAT is change!
All I've got to say is this:
If Obama was Nero, he'd be playing a harp, not having a party.
"Let them eat cake."
"Subject to no government but that of my own conscience."
The Iraq war is costing $100,000 a MINUTE.... http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/po...
I don't think Obama's litt;e party is going to break the bank, do you?
What's a few (4, 5, 6, 7?) orders of magnitude between friends..?
Mike
Peace on Terra http://damnthematrix.wordpress.com/ http://groups.yahoo.com/group/roeoz/
The point isn't whether it's going to break the bank, the bank is already broken, it's a matter of principal. Many people have and will lose their jobs this year, states are broke, people are losing their homes, I really don't see anything to party about. Since Obama is being advised by Keynesions and is now the leader of a bankrupt country maybe he is setting an example of spending and consuming, that's how we will solve the problem by doing the same thing that caused it.
When your planning on spending trillions, a few hundred million is just chump change, but to me it's a bad sign of things to come.
I better start building a guillotine.
Greg
Gotta love the voting in this country, but when you look at everything, voting in this country REALLY goessomething like this:
Voting is like picking out detergent, you can go with either Ivory Soap (McCain) or you can go with TIDE (obama), only to realize they are both owned by Procter&Gamble (bankers/ceo's). Ah yes, I can see now how it is FOR the PEOPLE and by the People along with all that other stuff,
Greg and JK121,
Your comments are solid gold.
Mike,
This isn't even about Obama - it is, as was mentioned just a matter of principle.
Our government is completely ignoring open wounds that are draining our economy, so..... what do they do?
Pop open the champaign and celebrate.
Why? What has he done? Why doesn't he do the G**Damn work before he starts the party?
Maybe I'm old fashioned, but you don't eat your cake until after you've choked down your broccoli.
"Subject to no government but that of my own conscience."
When Thomas Jefferson was inaugurated, he sought to dismantle the evolving Federalist tradition of pomp and circumstance. In a ceremonial sense, royalism seemed to have been restored, or so it appeared to him. As this blogger put it, "Dressed in simple attire, Jefferson walked over to the Capitol with a phalanx of riflemen, friends, and fellow citizens from his home state of Virginia."
In these last days of the American Empire, such austere republicanism would be considered impossibly quaint. Having long ago morphed into Jefferson's worst nightmare, the closer we get to the end, the more glamorous our inaugurals become. The poorer we are, the more millions we'll throw at a ceremony that is really the crowning of a monarch – and not just any old king, but an emperor bestriding the globe.
http://antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=14097
Greg
The point isn't whether it's going to break the bank, the bank is already broken, it's a matter of principal. Many people have and will lose their jobs this year, states are broke, people are losing their homes
Well, think of all the people who were employed today.... thousands of them.. who can keep their homes a little longer.
Like I said... want to save a heap of money? Get out of Iraq.
Mike
Peace on Terra http://damnthematrix.wordpress.com/ http://groups.yahoo.com/group/roeoz/
Here is an interesting article on this matter (see link below). Turns out the media reports have not included the public costs in the Clinton and Bush inaugurations. For Bush you need to add 115 million in public costs to the 42 million in private costs to total $157million then inflation adjust it (about 11% for the last 4 years using the low numbers the feds produce) and that is equivalent to $174 million for Bush, bringing Obama in at $4million less! Now do the cost per participant and get an even better measure of value (just people who showed up, not TV audience, which was world wide for Obama not for Bush).
Bush estimates for 2005 attendance are around 250,000 to 400,000
Obama estimates for 2009 are around 2.5 to 3 million people
Taking the low ball number we get a per participant rate for the 2 inaugurations of:
Bush 2005 = $696 per person in 2009 dollars
Obama 2009 = $68 per person also in 2009 dollars
Well, when you start comparing apples to apples it looks pretty good for the Obama inauguration and there wasn't any doubt that he actually won (some question about where he was born..)!
Should the US be spending that kind of money promoting an imperial presidency? I would prefer that we didn't (especially during this economic crisis), but at least with Obama we are headed in the right direction: less cost!
http://mediamatters.org/items/2009011900...
This time, like all times, is a very good one, if we but know what to do with it. --Ralph Waldo Emerson
Sam....
{No matter how cynical you get, it’s impossible to keep up. - Lily Tomlin}
{Owning a handgun doesn't make you armed any more than owning a guitar makes you a musician. - Colonel Jeff Cooper}