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Where do you think the money in his paycheck comes from? I really don't understand the mentality that the President of the United States should live in a cardboard box under a bridge because anything more would be a waste of taxpayer money.
T ... Obama vacation to Hawaii, Africa cost taxpayers nearly $16 million Obama trips to Hawaii, Africa reportedly cost taxpayers nearly $16 million | Fox News
Obama trips to Hawaii, Africa reportedly cost taxpayers nearly $16 million
By Malia Zimmerman
Published March 27, 2014 ...
U.S. taxpayers spent nearly $16 million to fly the Obamas to, from and around Hawaii and Africa, Air Force records obtained by Judicial Watch show.
"The Obama family 2013-2014 vacation to Honolulu cost $210,877 per hour for travel alone; at 36.9 total hours, the cost to taxpayers for the vacation's flight expense was $7,781,361.30," Judicial Watch said in a statement, noting an increase of $3,695,006.10 from flight expenses for the Obamas' 2012-13 Hawaii Christmas vacation.
I see FOX News is one of your sources of information. While factually they might not be lying outright about the president, they provide no points of comparison for you to make an informed judgment. Here are some comparisons from Politifact, a non-partisan fact-checking website:
"On Aug. 8, 2014, Knoller [identified by Politifact as CBS's "unofficial but widely trusted chronicler of data on presidential travels"] tweeted that Obama had taken 19 vacations totaling 125 days so far while in office ... that’s still many fewer than George Bush's 65 combined trips to his Texas ranch and his parents’ home in Kennebunkport, Maine, which totaled 407 days at the same point in his presidency.
Not included in [these] data are trips to the Camp David presidential retreat in western Maryland, which Knoller doesn’t count as 'vacation.' Knoller told Yahoo News that, through Aug. 12, 2014, Obama had made 33 visits to Camp David for all or part of 84 days, while Bush had been there 108 times for all or part of 341 days." http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-me...or-barack-oba/
As for golf, perhaps you would like to consider how much other presidents played the game. The very popular Dwight Eisenhower is estimated by his biographers as having played more than 100 games of golf PER YEAR during his presidency. That's more than 800, in spite of the fact that the man had both a heart attack AND a stroke while he was in office. Compare that to Obama. By Mark Knoller's count, our current president, up to this August, had played 186 rounds of golf in nearly six years. But Eisenhower wasn't even this country's most golf-obsessed president. Woodrow Wilson's biographer says he played an estimated 1,200 rounds of golf during his presidency. President Kennedy was also an enthusiastic golfer in spite of his back problems and Addison's Disease.
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Originally Posted by Atalanta
Are Americans paying for it [another poster's Christmas vacation], or did you save YOUR money to be able to do so?
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Originally Posted by Atalanta
... Sure, take some family time for Christmas.
But, the extravaganza and cost to taxpayers, Nope!!!!
Personally, I've had dozens of employers in my lifetime and NEVER have I not had Christmas off as a company-paid holiday. The Fortune 100 company I worked for gave us two days off at Christmas. The 25th and either the day before or after, depending on what day of the week the holiday fell. We also had New Year's Day off and were allowed to leave early on NYE if we chose to. Of course my companies did not pay for my Christmas travel But it's perfectly reasonable for the government to cover the cost of ANY president's personal travel. He is president 365 days a year! He NEVER gets an actual day "off." He requires the ability to perform his job, as well as security equal to White House security. Do you really expect him to stay cooped up in Washington for eight years without a break?
All presidents travel to their former homes for breaks during their time in office. Kennedy went to Massachusetts and Florida. Johnson and Bush went to Texas. Nixon and Reagan went to California. In fact, Reagan spent 335 days of his presidency at his California ranch alone. That's not counting all the other vacations he and Nancy took. Is it Obama's fault he was raised in Hawaii and is fond of the place? (Or are you one of the people who thinks he should go to Kenya if he wants to commune with his people?) If you want to look at non-vacationing presidents, the winner is Jimmy Carter, who spent only 79 days away from the White House in four years for personal reasons. And something tells me our OP is no fan of Jimmy Carter's!
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Originally Posted by 68551
When you pay for your vacation doesn't the money come from YOUR paycheck??? He is getting a paycheck that YES is also taxpayer money but he should be using HIS pay (as the rest of us do) for vacations....Why was he also asking Americans to tighten their belts when he is not willing to tighten his....If his vacation is on his dime I don't mind but if its double dipping and the taxpayers not only have to pay his salary but also foot the expensive vacations then I am not willing to tighten my belt to expand his....Gee, I don't care if you are the president or not...Practice what you preach!!!! (ALL presidents included!!!!)
Since 2001, U.S. presidents have been paid $400,000 annual salary, along with a $50,000 annual expense account, a $100,000 nontaxable travel account, and $19,000 for entertainment. So Obama is earning the same thing Clinton and Bush earned ... not a penny more. His total travel expenses are also less than Bush's since he's taken only a THIRD of the number of vacation days Bush took.
President Bush was fond of describing his job as CEO of the nation. So, compare that presidential compensation to that paid to America's chief executive officers. According to the New York Times, in 2012, the top 200 executives in the U.S. earned a total of $3 billion in compensation. The median cash compensation was $5.3 million, the median stock and option grants were $9 million. The President of the United States only makes little over HALF a million each year! America's highest paid executive according to the Business Insider is Oracle CEO Larry Ellison whose compensation in 2013 alone was $96.2 million. Is he 100 times more important than the the U.S. president?
I wish Obama had spent as many days as Bush on vacation. This country would be in far better shape if he hadn't had time to sign all those executive orders.
For all of you claiming Obama pays for his and his families trip.
Please back it up with proof!!
I'd hate for one to be "ignorant."
Generally the burden of proof is on the person making claims (yourself). Here's some information for you if you decide you actually do hate being ignorant. Most people don't. As they say, ignorance is bliss.
Go to Hawaii for Christmas if it bugs you. If you can't because you can't afford it, that's not Obama's fault. Improve yourself.
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Originally Posted by MaseMan
Haha...that's a perfect response. "Get some skills".
So let me get this right...
What you both are implying that if one doesn't want to have their tax dollars pay for Obama, his wife, and their childrens vacations
People have to improve themselves and get skills you say.
Intersesting mind set. Scary, but interesting.
So, you all know what we do for work and in life, and what kind of college we have had.
Interesting, but scary.
Last edited by Atalanta; 12-20-2014 at 02:02 PM..
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