This is Just Silly Really

Tweet

I recently received a bulletin posting on MySpace with the following: "A president's pension currently is $191,300 per year until he is eighty years old. Assuming the next president will live to age eighty, Senator McCain would receive ZERO pension as he would reach eighty at the end of two terms as president. Senator Obama, on the other hand, would be retired for twenty-six years after two terms and would receive $4,973,800 in pension. Therefore, it would certainly make economic sense to elect McCain in November. How's that for non-partisan thinking?" Okay, so I get the joke here. Haha, very funny, and I'm sure whoever is elected will be laughing all the way to the bank. Seriously, though, Senator McCain and his wife are millionaires, so a pension is the least of their concern, don't you think? Now, on the other hand, Senator Obama is I'm sure quite wealthy, as well. I think it's kind of a prerequisite in this country to have money in order to even be able to run for president--okay, fine, money/connections, but usually with money comes connections and vice versa, so seriously, it's a no-brainer. This leads me to my real question--but I am curious to know your thoughts on this silly little scenario otherwise, as well--and that is, why does the president get a pension anyway? I don't get it, but I do get one thing, and that is that the joke is on us. As an added note, I do not wish to be held responsible for the figures mentioned here, as I have not looked them up to know if they are true or not.