A $100k Pay Freeze vs. $160 Milli Inauguration
Newly inaugurated President Obama rolled into office this week, and quickly announced a pay freeze for his top staff members making over 100k. While this move is inline with the President’s pledge to set “a new standard of openness” in Washington it seems a little ironic that it comes on the heels of the most expensive Worship Your Boss Day (ahem, inauguration) in our nation’s history.
Lauren Farrely of DailySkiff.com notes that $49 million of the estimated $170 million came directly from tax payers AND that the largest private donors were Wall Street fat cats who benefited from the $700 billion bailout last September. It’s nice to know that “a new standard of openess” means we, average American taxpayers, take the brunt of the largest bailout AND inauguration bill ever.
NY Daily News, in referencing Obama spokeswoman, Linda Douglas, writes “the committee’s expenses will be greater than previous years because of Obama’s commitment to make the event as open and accessible as possible to the public.” I don’t want to be a hater, but I’m a numbers guy and something doesn’t sit well with me when token gestures are used to distract us from obvious truths, in an effort to inflate the sails of campaign claims that seem to be losing their air really quickly.
To echo Ms. Farrely conclusion, “Obama’s plan to restore fiscal discipline to Washington by ending wasteful spending has gotten off to a questionable start.”
Moving Forward
If we believe in balancing the budget we need to continue to insist that our representatives do not pay for things our country cannot afford. Also, we need to recognize the relationship between the size of the Federal Government and the degree of entitlement it has to tax and spend out of our pockets. I believe history shows that the bigger the government the more confidence it has to encroach unduly into our wallets and bank accounts. If you want to participate in working for a smaller government I encourage you to Meetup.com to look for groups in your area that have similar interests. If you know of any groups or are already participating in some please feel free to leave them in the comments!
Jan 23, 2009