FOD 2012.03.12

The country is racing headlong towards the fiscal cliff. At the same time, obama is being more arrogant and unreasonable than usual. His 'proposal' is to raise taxes and increase spending, in exchange for unspecified budget cuts at some unspecified date in the future.

If you believe that, I've got a bridge I'll happily sell you.

But there is (at least) one obvious place to begin cutting government overspending.

Politicians looking for savings to deal with the national debt crisis should perhaps start by abolishing the President.

Barack Obama and his family cost the taxpayer $1.4billion per year, according to a recently published book.

By contrast, the British Royal Family costs less than $60million each year.

And the Royal Family does much less harm to their country than obama does to ours.

Two of the principal costs of the the Obama presidency - and any other presidency - are staffing and security, according to Robert Keith Gray's book Presidential Perks Gone Royal.

When it comes to keeping the First Family safe, few would dispute that it is worth paying a high price to keep the President safe from harm.

Much as it pains me to pay a high price to keep this particular president safe from harm, I'll reluctantly go along with the general principle. What I will dispute, however are two things: (1) the use of Air Force One as a campaign vehicle, and (2) the abuse of staffing the White House.

When the President travels around the country on campaign, he is obliged to take Air Force One.

His party reimburses the taxpayer with the cost of a first-class air ticket per passenger - but this is far from the full cost to taxpayers.

The cumulative cost of a first-class ticket for the presidential party -- which doesn't include his personal staff or his cheering section from the mainstream media -- doesn't even begin to come close to covering the operating expense of Air Force One. This gives obama a logistical advantage that any political opponent cannot come close to matching.

That's bad enough. But the real abuse takes place in the categories of staffing, entertainment, and household expenses.

The president can appoint high-paid staffers without Senate confirmation: Obama has 469 senior staffers and 226 are paid more than $100,000 a year, according to the book. Seventy-seven are paid as much as $172,000 per year.

That is by far the biggest presidential staff in history at the highest wages ever.

As for entertainment and household expenses:

...the White House contains a movie theatre which is manned by projectionists 24 hours a day in case one of the family feels like a trip to the cinema.

Say what?!? Projectionists on call 24 hours a day? Why can't he just get a Netflix subscription like everyone else?

And even the Obamas' dog Bo costs the taxpayer thousands of dollars - his handler is reportedly paid over $100,000 a year.

Holy crap! I'll take Bo for walks and scoop his poop for 100 grand a year.

No wonder we're in such a fiscal mess. The guy in charge has an unlimited budget, and is never held accountable for his spending. He's just running the country the same way he runs his household.

Wish I could do that.

And we haven't even mentioned his vacations...