Knowledge Creates Power: Political Elitists Living the High Life While Americans Suffer

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Political Elitists Living the High Life While Americans Suffer

What is that line that Obama likes to use… ‘shared sacrifice’ or is it really more like ‘Let them eat cake’?

By: Terresa Monroe-Hamilton - Cross-Posted at Right Wing News and Ask Marion

Americans are struggling… no jobs, inflation that our would-be leaders deny is even there, ObamaCare sucking us dry, taxes that would make King George blush… and this nightmare is just getting started.

But don’t you worry your pretty little head! Our esteemed leaders who have exempted themselves from ObamaCare are making sure they are taken care of. Americans may be quietly starving in their hovels, but our politicians are living the high life, while throwing us scraps and scratching their heads… trying to figure out why the riffraff are upset.

More than half of all members of Congress are millionaires. Now you know why I say: Shut. It. Down.

From our friends at The Economic Collapse blog, comes some stunning figures:

Over 15 years, the Senate has spent 5.25 million on hair care. $40,000 a year for shoe shining. This is for 100 Senators, many of whom don’t have much hair left. I hear lying makes you go bald.
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”…

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.
Amazingly, the 50th most wealthy member of Congress has a net worth of 6.14 million dollars.
At this point, more than half of those “serving the American people” in Congress are millionaires.
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.
Once they leave Washington, former members of Congress continue to collect huge checks for the rest of their lives…

In 2011, 280 former lawmakers who retired under a former government pension system received average annual pensions of $70,620, according to a Congressional Research Service report. They averaged around 20 years of service. At the same time, another 215 retirees (elected in 1984 or later with an average of 15 years of service) received average annual checks of roughly $40,000 a year.
Speaker of the House John Boehner would bring home a yearly pension of close to $85,000 if he left Congress when his current term ends in 2014.
At this point, quite a few former lawmakers are collecting federal pensions for life worth at least $100,000 annually. That list includes such notable names as Newt Gingrich, Bob Dole, Trent Lott, Dick Gephardt and Dick Cheney.
The U.S. government is spending approximately 3.6 million dollars a year to support the lavish lifestyles of former presidents such as George W. Bush and Bill Clinton.
Nearly 500,000 federal employees now make at least $100,000 a year.
During one recent year, the average federal employee in the Washington D.C. area received total compensation worth more than $126,000.
During one recent year, compensation for federal employees came to a grand total of approximately 447 billion dollars.
If you can believe it, there are 77,000 federal workers that make more than the governors of their own states do.
When Joe Biden and his staff took a trip to London, the hotel bill cost U.S. taxpayers $459,388.65.
Joe Biden and his staff also stopped in Paris for one night. The hotel bill for that one night came to $585,000.50.
When Biden and his staff visited Moscow for two days in 2011, the total hotel bill came to $665,445.00.
During 2012, the salaries of Barack Obama’s three climate change advisers combined came to a grand total of more than $370,000.
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.
It is estimated that the trip that the Obamas took to Africa cost U.S. taxpayers about 100 million dollars.
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.
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.
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.

Yep, no where to cut there according to Pelosi. The cupboard is bare. Right.

Those of us who have worked our whole lives have had it with this blatant egregious theft. Witness the following fallout and prepare to be pissed:

This week, Yahoo featured the story of a 77-year-old former executive that is now flipping burgers and serving drinks to make ends meet. He says that he now earns in a week what he once earned in a single hour, but he is thankful to have a job in this economic environment…

It seems like another life. At the height of his corporate career, Tom Palome was pulling in a salary in the low six-figures and flying first class on business trips to Europe.

Today, the 77-year-old former vice president of marketing for Oral-B juggles two part-time jobs: one as a $10-an-hour food demonstrator at Sam’s Club, the other flipping burgers and serving drinks at a golf club grill for slightly more than minimum wage.

While Palome worked hard his entire career, paid off his mortgage and put his kids through college, like most Americans he didn’t save enough for retirement. Even many affluent baby boomers who are approaching the end of their careers haven’t come close to saving the 10 to 20 times their annual working income that investment experts say they’ll need to maintain their standard of living in old age.

So many Americans are barely making it from month to month at this point. Most people work very, very hard for their money, and it is very discouraging to see our politicians waste our hard-earned tax dollars so frivolously.

And remember those insider trading laws… somehow we, most Americans, would go to jail, just ask Martha Stewart, but somehow it is okay for those in Congress?!? Even after it was brought to light by notorious lobbyist Jack Abramoff and others.

I feel the need for tar and feathers approaching. Enough of political elitists on both sides of the aisle living the high life while all of America suffers. Shut. It. Down.

We also thought this might be a good time to revisit the photos below of just a few of our 'royal family's' vacations.

HERE ARE JUST A FEW VACATION PHOTOS

Honestly, you just haven't lived 'til you've stayed in a private 3-story villa at a 5-Star luxury hotel, the Villa Padierna.

It only cost $95,000, and I was able to hold the total bill under $500,000 for the week. What a bargain!

Thank you also for the use of Air Force Two and the 70 Secret Service personnel who tagged along to be sure we were safe and cared for at all times. Air Force Two (which costs $11,351 per hour to operate according to Government Accounting Office reports) only used 47,500 gallons of jet fuel for this trip and carbon emissions were a mere 1,031 tons of CO2. That's quite a carbon footprint as my good friend Al Gore would say, so we must ask the American citizens to drive smaller, more fuel efficient cars and drive less too, so we can lessen our combined carbon footprint.

But hey, Barack's Air Force One costs about $200,000. per hour to operate and with his many trips, he spent almost half a billion dollars on flights alone last year. Yeah, that's with a B? $500,000,000,000.

By the way, if you happen to be visiting the Costa del Sol, I highly recommend the Buenaventura
Plaza restaurant in Marbella ; great lobster with rice and oysters!
I'm ashamed to admit the lobsters we ate in Martha's Vineyard were not quite as tasty, but what can you do if you're not in Europe , you have to just grin and bear it.

I know times are hard and millions of you are struggling to put food on the table and trying to make ends meet. So I do appreciate your sacrifices and do hope you find work soon.
I was really exhausted after Barack took our family on a luxury vacation in Maine a few weeks ago. I just had to get away for a few days.

Cordially,
Michelle Obama
P.S. Thank you as well for the $2 BILLION dollar trip to India!

P.SS. Thank you, too, for that vacation trip to Martha's Vineyard - It was fabulous! And thanks for that second smaller jet that took our dog Bo to Martha's Vineyard so we and the children could have him with us while we were away from the White House for eleven days.

Yet Another Taxpayer Paid Luxury Vacation For The Obamas, Including a Private Jet For The First Dog… Again

At least in the future the Jet will be carrying two dogs, Bo and Sunny

PSSS. Oh, I almost forgot to say thanks also for our two-week trip to Hawaii at Christmas. That 7,000 square foot house that might be our future home was great!

PSSSS We all had a fabulous time in Africa visiting Barack’s homeland. What a wonderful place!

PSSSss Now the girls and I are back in Africa with my mom.

Don't forget my ski trip to Vail this winter.

All this while Barack plays golf !

Thanks America! But you owe it to me!

Remember, we all have to share the pain during these hard economic times equally, shared sacrifice they tell us! But our leaders seem to love to redistribute and share our wealth and keep, enjoy and live well on theirs…

So, here did YOU go on vacation this year, last year, the past 5 years?