How do you digest this?

Our Presidents have lived like kings for a long time now. And this isn't just a swipe at Obama. Bush and Clinton and Bush before him and probably going on down the line a ways - they've all spent far too much money on their own sense of luxury. It seems like each new President we've had spends more; their wives hire more aides and travel more; their security detail increases; the amount of vacations taken increases; the number of parties they throw and the amount of food they buy increases; the tab just just keeps running. And not only for the POTUS, but for damn near every politician. Pelosi is a private jet-addicted princess. They're all living the high life. This is why I've stayed out of the politics section as of late. I just get too angry even typing about this nonsense! Every single time I turn it over on the news, it's two parties arguing back and forth. One party, claiming they're for the "everyman" and "middle class" wants to keep spending and taxing and spending and taxing. The other party claims to want it to stop, but they don't really want it to stop. They just want to spend on their own projects and not the other party's. It's all such a hoax on the American people. Sure, we only have a few million government employees on the taxpayers' dime. But that's not the half of it. 1: The government we have now spends exponentially more every day. 2: We're also footing the bill for every retiree out there, so our children will be on the hook for millions upon millions of government salary and pension packages. And that's only government. It's going to be the same with every public sector career. The numbers of people needing money is going to increase. And let's not even get into SS. With politicians spending more and wanting to tax more to solve it, and salaries-for-life packages all coming down the pike, the taxpayer is on the hook in a big way and gets puck-all in return (ohhh! $13 extra of MY MONEY on MY PAYCHECK? Thank you, my king; you're SOOOO gracious!). So it makes me sick to even discuss politics. It's all such a joke. People want to tug at your heart strings for one issue, blame the previous politician for another, and kick the can on down the line for yet another - there is ZERO responsibility in zealots, and politics in today's age is zealotry. My vacation last year was 3 days off on my sofa. I felt more like Al Bundy than a ritzy President. And I'll be damned if that guy's better than I am just because half the country got all wee-wee'd up when he spoke. Barack Obama - the most useless Senator in American history. President! Only in America! They all work for us. But that's not how they see it - R or D or I or anything else. They present themselves as our betters. And I'm sick of it.

Growing up my family & I never went on vacation. Not once that I can remember. We couldn't afford it. I went on my first vacation when I was 35 years old after my husband & I had been married for a year. We couldn't afford to go on a honeymoon after we got married so when our 1st year anniversary came around we went on a cruise celebrating both. We saved every dime we had though to afford this vacation. When I think about all the money that is spent not only on the President & his family, but all the other things some of which we know about & some of which we don't. I think of all the homeless people we could help. We could set up job training programs so that they could eventually earn a living on their own, build more descent shelters so that they wouldn't rather sleep on the street but in a clean shelter instead, start programs to help these young kids who join gangs just to stay safe in their neighborhoods.... I could go on & on but I think you see what I'm talking about. All this money is wasted on extravagant trips & separate planes. It's just a big fat waste of money & resources that could be put to better use. Unfortunately this is one fight that the American people will never win. It's been going on for years & it will continue to do so.

It really make me sick for him to spend this kind of money when people out here are really hurting. Now he is wanting to raise the debt ceiling again or the government will run out of money this fri. As far as I can see he has done nothing but spend money we don't have. The stimulus that didn't work. A health care that is going to break us even more. Money to green jobs that cost more than they save and companies going belly up.Maybe he isn't as confident as he wants us to believe and wants one more big vacation before time runs out. and as far as Nancy Pelosi loses any credibility as far as I'm concerned. She may be paying for her vacation herself but still looks bad. As if she is flaunting her wealth that she got from insider trading.

That is way to expensive for just taking a vacation. I am sure that they fly in separate airplanes because of the children. If something happened to Air Force one, then his family would be safe. Do we really know whether or not he pays for the airplane as well? I had heard at one time that he paid for his own trips. Not sure if that is true or not. If the people are paying for this it is more than ridiculous what we have to pay for. And for the economy the way it is and needing to cut back on spending, he needs to cut back as well. Plus I think it is ridiculous that the cost of just using the plane is so much. It is way out of line. There is no reason to have to pay the secret service, etc., so much money. Ridiculous to say the least.

You should be fortunate you're husband is 1 fully retired from the military and 2 able to get contract work. That puts you way better off than most of the country, even a lot of prior military can't get a 40 hour a week job that adds up to what he still gets in retirement. Hopefully now that you're out of having to pay so many bills you can invest a good portion of you're income wisely. Heck if you sucked it up for a little bit you could both have plenty to retire and vacation on after a few years at most. Not bad since your husband might be 50 by then and a lot of people are still working at 70 just to make ends meat. As for Air Force One and other extravagant costs. You have to realize the extreme amount and cost of security for a current and even ex president. I'm sure our security budget just for figure heads like Obama is in the billions annually if not closer to a trillion. It probably costs Obama about $30,000 a hole of golf just in security. It's probably a little over done. Maybe they should just make a retired politician island and reduce the security costs. It's not like they've ever interacted with the public on a normal basis in the last 10+ years anyways. Just consider what it takes for a President to go give a simple graduation speech. 3 or more weeks prior to the trip the SS comes out and surveys the area, they then work with local police and LE departments to create a secure area. They begin securing the area weeks before his arrival. They further secure the airport in which he arrives, often obstruct traffic on publicly funded roads. Then anywhere he goes he has the biggest escort known to man that goes with him. You're looking at $2,000-$5,000+ per person involved for a month of work and planning for him to make a 1 day appearance. Plus all the extra security costs. So, when he goes to make his little graduation speech at some university you're looking at probably 100+ people somehow involved in planning. Then probably close to 300 for actually security that day. So just that day alone probably costs $50,000+ in manpower for security. Plus the cost of transportation etc. It probably ballparks around $2 million for the president to give a 30 minute speech. Not counting the security still at the white house when he's gone. On the up side this does employ a lot of Americans with decent wages. The down side is that in a time of financial crisis a lot of this could probably be done far more efficiently. We could probably save a few million a trip and let him do a few things through electronic communications. Businesses have been having e-conferences for years to save money. If we could cut back on the cost of unnecessary trips for politicians it could quickly add up to billions of savings every year, and that's significant money even in government terms. What good is technology if we can't use it where we actually need it to solve problems. We can watch every football game of the season in real time but we can't stream a broadcast of the president making a graduation speech to some students on a big screen to save a few million tax dollars and time that he might better spend doing his job. Now I'm actually curious as to what the average daily cost of a president is.