This hope and change sure is expensive

Found another interesting number made headline news, and at the expense of the Obama administration, it would seem. In an article on Britain's Daily Mail website, Mail Online, a former long time White House staffer has just released a book dishing about the many spoils the presidents have enjoyed over the year.

The article also helpfully points out that the estimated $1.4 billion a year the Obama family costs U.S. taxpayers swallows whole the roughly $60 million tab the British Royal Family racks up per year.

Now I get the deal behind the security costs of moving the President of the United States around, but there are quite a few vacations that need to be discussed while we are on the subject, and not just the ones the Secret Service were enjoying in Colombia.

Where it starts getting a little hairy is in the president's staffing capabilities. The president can not only appoint staff members at his own personal discretion, but raise their salaries at his own personal discretion, as well. This is where you wind up with people like the crews that man the White House's movie theater 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. Because, you know, to make room for all that Hope & Change, they forgot how the fuck to use the On-Demand or Netflix. They are salaried, and we pay for that. Or the handler for Bo, the family dog, who is reportedly paid over $100,000 per year. Altogether, 226 members of President Barack Obama's staff are paid over $100,000 per year- over $23 million for payroll right there.

Personally, I'd love to get my hands on the full list of staff members for President Obama, just to see how many different jobs there are on a White House staff, and how much they pay. I mean, it can't be glamourous, but I'd take $100,000 a year to cut the edges from Obama's pop tarts in the morning...

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