Post: #1

Disclaimer: This site doesn't look all that credible on the surface but they do link to references for each of their claims and can be crosschecked with alternate sources; net worths can be confirmed by Forbes, etc.

http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archi...ur-expense

#2 Amazingly, the 50th most wealthy member of Congress has a net worth of 6.14 million dollars.

#3 At this point, more than half of those "serving the American people" in Congress are millionaires.

#4 In one recent year, an average of $4,005,900 of U.S. taxpayer money was spent on "personal" and "office" expenses per U.S. Senator.

#13 When Joe Biden and his staff took a trip to London, the hotel bill cost U.S. taxpayers $459,388.65.

#14 Joe Biden and his staff also stopped in Paris for one night. The hotel bill for that one night came to $585,000.50.

#15 When Biden and his staff visited Moscow for two days in 2011, the total hotel bill came to $665,445.00.

#16 During 2012, the salaries of Barack Obama’s three climate change advisers combined came to a grand total of more than $370,000.

#17 Overall, 139 different White House staffers were making at least $100,000 during 2012, and there were 20 staffers that made the maximum of $172,200.

#18 It is estimated that the trip that the Obamas took to Africa cost U.S. taxpayers about 100 million dollars.

#19 The Obamas only have one dog named "Bo", but the White House "dog handler" reportedly makes $102,000 per year and sometimes he is even flown to where the Obamas are vacationing so that he can take care of the dog.

#20 There is always at least one projectionist at the White House 24 hours a day just in case there is someone that wants to watch a movie. Apparently turning on a DVD player is too much to ask.

#21 In one recent year, more than 1.4 billion dollars was spent on the Obamas. Meanwhile, British taxpayers only spent about 58 million dollars on the entire royal family.

Post: #2

Comparing a president to a royal family that has no political role is comparing apples to oranges. Moar stuff on congrees.

It seems like you forgot #1

Quote:#1 According to Roll Call's annual survey of Congressional wealth, the super wealthy in Congress just continue to get much wealthier even though they are supposedly dedicating their lives to "public service"...

Post: #3

In before it turns into a left-right, Democrat-Republican thread but I wanna know if it's only Obama with these expenses or does every President have these kind of expenses?

Post: #4

Why is it apple to oranges? Just curious since neither of them do anything and both are paid by taxpayers.

Post: #5

No different than women living off the sweat of hard working betas.

Post: #6

(09-28-2013 05:59 PM)TheSlayer Wrote:  In before it turns into a left-right, Democrat-Republican thread but I wanna know if it's only Obama with these expenses or does every President have these kind of expenses?

I'm pretty sure they all do. I cut some of the numbers out for brevity's sake but it says George W. and Clinton are still getting checks in the millions.

I try not to just copy and paste whole articles.

Post: #7

http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/the-pre...mas-fault/

Quote:Patterson attempted to do that for the Fiscal Year 2008 budget and came up with a figure of $1,592,875,254.

Hard to do a direct apples to apples comparison because we don't know exactly how the 1.4 billion figure was calculated but it seems like the cost is probably in the same ball park.

The thing that upsets me the most is that congress is basically one giant insider trading scheme. The biggest value of being on a committee is that you know the content of the laws that are likely going to be passed long before everybody else does and it's perfectly legal to make trades with that knowledge. They've tried to reform it a few times but it's just too big of a perk to give up.

Post: #8

I'm sure they all do. All of them are scum bags

Post: #9

(09-28-2013 06:01 PM)Fisto Wrote:  Why is it apple to oranges? Just curious since neither of them do anything and both are paid by taxpayers.

The UK has separate roles for a head of state and head of government. The US has both roles in one person, the president.

The queen is head of state, a ceremonial role that carries no political weight. Hence the queen cannot rule the way she used to back in 1621, she's just smiles and does photo ops.

The PM/President is head of government, a role where he....is the head of the government. A head of gov't is a shot caller, he can send troops, sign bills, plays a role in the legislative process, and receives foreign leaders.

If the comparison had been between the UK PM and Obama, it would've been valid.

Post: #10

These are from the same article:

Senate Hair Care Services has cost taxpayers about $5.25 million over 15 years. They foot the bill of more than $40,000 for the shoeshine attendant last fiscal year. Six barbers took in more than $40,000 each, including nearly $80,000 for the head barber.

------------------

Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) is the richest Member of Congress for the second year in a row, reporting a vast fortune that in 2011 had a minimum net worth surpassing $300 million for the first time.

McCaul is followed by Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), who reported a minimum net worth of $198.65 million, and Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), who reported a minimum net worth of $140.55 million. The two lawmakers swapped places since last year's list.

The lawmakers who round out the top five, Sens. Mark Warner (D-Va.) and Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), also flipped positions from 2010 to 2011, with Warner's reported minimum worth rising about $9 million to $85.81 million and Rockefeller's minimum worth rising slightly to $83.08 million.

Post: #11

(09-28-2013 06:05 PM)Kingsley Davis Wrote:  No different than women living off the sweat of hard working betas.

Betas can avoid getting screwed by wising up. Some do, some don't. The only way the American public can avoid getting screwed is to move out of the United States.

Post: #12

@Cattle Rustler:

I believe the comparison is being made because people expect lavishness when they're thinking about queens and princes. They expect democratic leaders to be public servants. Yet the roles are completely flipped when you look at the expense profiles.

Post: #13

I don't know why you bring up the Royal Family, as it has absolutely no comparison.

I'll entertain this though:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhyYgnhh...ata_player

Anyways, the real cost is lobbying. This is just pen and paper.

Post: #14

Chinese Politicians are worth a shit ton more than US ones.

Post: #15

(09-28-2013 06:08 PM)Cattle Rustler Wrote:  The queen is head of state, a ceremonial role that carries no political weight.

You think the Queen has no political weight? The QUEEN?

She may not have official power but to say she has no political weight is ridiculous.

And since a lot of her responsibilities include her acting as sort of an Ambassador of Goodwill etc she or her representatives and the rest of the Royal Family travel quite a bit, in which case, appearances have to be kept, so they HAVE to stay in at a certain standard of accommodations.

And I believe they are talking about Obamas little vacations.

It's not apples and oranges at all.

Post: #16

(09-28-2013 06:10 PM)Enigma Wrote:  These are from the same article:

Senate Hair Care Services has cost taxpayers about $5.25 million over 15 years. They foot the bill of more than $40,000 for the shoeshine attendant last fiscal year. Six barbers took in more than $40,000 each, including nearly $80,000 for the head barber.

------------------

Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) is the richest Member of Congress for the second year in a row, reporting a vast fortune that in 2011 had a minimum net worth surpassing $300 million for the first time.

McCaul is followed by Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), who reported a minimum net worth of $198.65 million, and Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), who reported a minimum net worth of $140.55 million. The two lawmakers swapped places since last year's list.

The lawmakers who round out the top five, Sens. Mark Warner (D-Va.) and Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), also flipped positions from 2010 to 2011, with Warner's reported minimum worth rising about $9 million to $85.81 million and Rockefeller's minimum worth rising slightly to $83.08 million.

I'm curious about which ones made their fortunes while in office.

Harry Reid for example, had nothing before going to office, now he's quite wealthy.

Charlie Rangel comes to mind as well.

Post: #17

(09-28-2013 10:26 PM)Fisto Wrote:  I'm curious about which ones made their fortunes while in office.

I remember reading some article which talked about US senators outperforming the markets on a consistent basis almost every year. A lot of people talk about insider trading on Wall Street, these guys are in on all the financial scams and insider trading.

The article also listed specific examples of senators and congressmen flipping their shares for many companies which were waiting for government approvals/announcements before the news hit the markets.

It's good to be a politician.

Post: #18

Yes, I believe it is well known that many Congressmen perform insider trading.

Obama has been by far the worst with the wasteful spending on himself. They all do it, obviously, but the $100,000,000 trip to Africa alone blew the doors off anything any other president has done.

The kids can no longer visit the White House due to budget cuts. Then Obama went out a few months later on his trip to Africa. He is lucky the press is in his back pocket.

Post: #19

(09-28-2013 10:26 PM)Fisto Wrote:  I'm curious about which ones made their fortunes while in office.

Harry Reid for example, had nothing before going to office, now he's quite wealthy.

Charlie Rangel comes to mind as well.

Well, the highest ranking guy, McCaul, came into Congress in 2005 with a net worth of $12 milliion. He got a fat boost from his wife, who is heir to the Clear Channel fortune, but he still experienced a 500%+ increase before she received those assets.

Issa's assets were $315 million in 2012 (his net worth is offset by a huge chunk of liabilities) but are now up to $355 million in 2013.

Warner's net worth jumped $9 million from 2011 to 2012.

Those are just a few examples.

So, some of these guys were still millionaires before being elected. McCaul and Kerry benefited a great deal from their wives' families. Rockefeller obviously had some family money. But their net worths go up considerably after becoming Congressman.

Then you have the guys who came in without much and are now killing it.

Post: #20

(09-28-2013 06:11 PM)Merenguero Wrote:  

(09-28-2013 06:05 PM)Kingsley Davis Wrote:  No different than women living off the sweat of hard working betas.

Betas can avoid getting screwed by wising up. Some do, some don't. The only way the American public can avoid getting screwed is to move out of the United States.

So, in both cases, leave the USA?

OK.