Americans are hurting during this recession and are forced to cut back and live more frugally. Wouldn't it be appropriate for our president to "feel our pain", as Bill Clinton so successfully did, and live a little less flamboyant of a lifestyle? After all, it's our tax dollars he and his lovely wife are spending so lavishly with one party after another, to the tune of S10 million.
Read from the Canada Free Press, via Gateway Pundit:
Obama Wastes Millions of Taxpayer Dollars on Personal Entertainment
"The same hypocrite who says our energy costs must 'necessarily skyrocket' to fund his political ambition, is giving Marie Antoinette a run for her money when it comes to spending national treasure on personal luxuries.
While much of the country is struggling to pay their bills, the President and First Lady are partying like rock royalty. The collection of talent that has made the pilgrimage to the White House to entertain Obama and friends is nothing less than amazing: Bob Dylan, Stevie Wonder, Tony Bennet, Paul Simon, Marc Anthony, Herbie Hancock, Martina McBride, Queen Latifah, The Foo Fighters, Faith Hill, and recently foot-in-mouth Paul McCartney to name a few.
This has the makings to be the greatest ongoing concert series ever to be seen on this Earth just to entertain one man … all paid for by the American taxpayer.
Let Them Eat Cake
How much does this world-class entertainment cost? Assuming the artists themselves forgo appearance fees, I highly doubt Paul Simon would perform with just a karaoke machine as backup.
Professional equipment needs to be brought in - sound engineers, stages, lights, etc… Even small scale performances by these artists can be very expensive.
Add booze, food, security, invitations, social secretaries, wait staff, and hangers on to the tab and the price for one of these events could easily top $75K. With over 27 concerts hosted thus far, the total cost to taxpayers is in the millions of dollars.
The executive branch does not provide detailed information regarding entertainment expenses, however, it has been estimated the Obamas spent at least $10 million on 'drunken White House parties' in 2009 alone.
The Audacity of Food Stamps
Considering the country is at war and a record 40 million Americans rely on food stamps to eat, Obama should show some class and skip the expensive partying.
Whether it’s the world’s greatest concert series, multi-million dollar date night in New York or taxpayer funded shopping in Europe for the First Lady, the Obamas are exposing themselves as nothing more than greedy, self-serving politicians.
While the President and First Lady insist the rest of us endure economic hardship for the greater good, they are living like a king and queen on our dime."
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3 comments:
Oh, how petty... volume 82.
"How much does this world-class entertainment cost? Assuming the artists themselves forgo appearance fees, I highly doubt Paul Simon would perform with just a karaoke machine as backup.
Professional equipment needs to be brought in - sound engineers, stages, lights, etc… Even small scale performances by these artists can be very expensive."
Artists that perform at the White House do it by invitation, at their own expense. That means not only their own personal fee, but all the "extras" involved in the performance. No, Paul Simon proably doesn't perform with a karaoke machine... but I'll bet the Crawford Ranch that either Simon or, far more likel, his record label pick up the cost of the incidentals.
But the line that I find most amusing? The reference to "drunken parties", of course! Yeah, if there's one thing that Barack and Michelle (and especialy those two precocious kids) are known for, it's those drunken parties. In fact, "parties" is too kind a terml it should be "orgies" or "bacchanals".
Yeah, "drunken bacchanals"! That's more like it!!!
The point of this argument is that he is doing all this on BORROWED taxpayer money. This hypocritical SOB wants to tax us into oblivion while living it up on free money. Just like the negative comment he spewed about BP spending 50 million on ads. What about his spending 700 million on ads to fool people into voting for him. That could have been used for a better purpose also.
If the entertainment was either gratis, or paid for by record companies, etc., then how do you figure this is "borrowed taxpayer money"?
And I thought you free-market types would have no problem with people doing what they want to do with their own money! Yeah, in the abstract, I wish that $700 million (assuming you're right on the figure, which is dubious) was used for something else more useful to society, but part of that amount was what I donated, and I have a right to donate my money where I want to donate it. (As for your contention that the money was used to "fool people" I only wonder how you'd categorize the money donated to McFossil and the Alaskan Winkiemeister.)
The issue with BP also has an additional complication in that, since BP has damaged the locals for much more than $50 million, it might have been more advantageous to put that BP money directly to work for the injured parties. Contraryto any hetoric you may wish to spew, Obama hadn't done any damage to the American electorate. (And I'd argue he still hasn't harmed the American electorate, but I'm sure you have feelings to the contrary, so let's not waste any time in going down that rabbit hole, shall we?)
This whole non-issue about entertainment has only arisen because nobody with any talent really wanted to go play at the Bush White House for the last eight years... you rightwingnuts apparently have "entertainer envy".
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