It's The World's Smallest Internationally Renowned Orchestra
You were expecting the world's tiniest violin?
President Obama wants you to know his finances have suffered, too. Seriously. And this news was apparently on ABC, not in The Onion.
From the Sun-Times:
(President Obama) says he and first lady Michelle Obama took a hit like everybody else when the economy nearly collapsed, telling ABC that a college fund for daughters Malia and Sasha has gone "up and down" with the stock market.Obama says the first couple is "not that far removed from what most Americans are going through." He tells the network "it was just a few years ago that we had high credit card balances, we had two kids, thinking about college. We had our own retirement accounts, wondering if we were going to be able to get enough assets in there."
Yes, it's rough when the wife is only able to pull in $317K a year -- on top of your U.S. Senate salary.
And they called George W. Bush elitist and out of touch?
Obama seems very out of touch almost everywhere.
Trying to create jobs while raising taxes and demands on private business.
Big government and deficits.
Health care that people don't want etc...
David M. at July 26, 2010 4:03 AM
Oh please whine some more Mr. President. Nothing says leadership and class like whining about money.
There's a thin line between empathetic and condescending. For all his other faults (perjury - not BJs), President Clinton understood that line. Obama really doesn't.
Elle at July 26, 2010 4:47 AM
Well of course the kids need to go to Yale, Harvard, or some other liberal college for the full four years. That doesn't come cheap. ;-)
Jim P. at July 26, 2010 4:50 AM
Unbelievable. There is nothing else to say. No wait, there is. If he thinks the average american HAS college funds or retirement funds, he's more out of touch than Paris Hilton.
momof4 at July 26, 2010 5:49 AM
For all his other faults (perjury - not BJs), President Clinton understood that line. Obama really doesn't.
Sometimes I feel that the entire Obama presidency can be summed up with the idea that Bill Clinton, flawed though he is, fundamentally understood certain basic facts about the job that Obama does not. And I, let us say, was not and am not the greatest Bill Clinton fan of all time.
marion at July 26, 2010 5:51 AM
Seems to me that having more money doesn't necessarily mean you have less money problems. I forget where I read this (somewhere on the net no doubt, so it MUST be true) but generally don't people assume if they had 150% of their current salary they'd be fine?
The problem is that peoples' expenses rise to their salaries. Chicago is an expensive city, and they bought a big house in a good neighborhood. I've seen the house. The mortgage payments must be huge.
Everyone I know, rich or poor, wants just a little bit more money. That's probably something every American can relate to.
NicoleK at July 26, 2010 6:37 AM
Yes, it's rough when the wife is only able to pull in $317K a year -- on top of your U.S. Senate salary.
We poor working scum just can't possibly understand how hard life is for people on their level. The personal chef, the sleazy land deadls, the bribes to the Chicago Machine...it all adds up.
HeatherRadish at July 26, 2010 6:39 AM
The royalties off his books alone are more than I will earn in a lifetime, and I'm considered well paid. I must be, taxes are by far my biggest expense...
MarkD at July 26, 2010 6:51 AM
Every day I read something new that Obama has done or said, and I long for the cool competence of the Carter administration.
brian at July 26, 2010 6:57 AM
I still know people who don't have jobs, are in debt up to their ears, and they still argue with me that they made the best decisions in voting for Obama and they still stick by him.
Why? I wish I could understand better, but the only thing that I can figure is that these people still are "hoping" for the government to swoop in and deliver prosperity to them via handouts.
If I engage these people, they get belligerent and sarcastic and make statements like, "Oh, sure! Like things were better with Bush and getting screwed over by them and their corporate cronies!"
I say, "Um... ya... actually."
They then tell me that I'm insane.
Ya... apparently, it's the Republican minority and the tea parties that are keeping these people down. It has nothing to do with the Administration's policies and the Democratic majority that they have enjoyed since 2006 and the Community Reinvestment Act and whatever other stupid fiscally liberal policies etc etc.
Mark at July 26, 2010 7:12 AM
I doubt their budget has been so constrained lately, free vacations, lavish parties and perks up the yayoo, all funded by us taxpayers. Cry me a river, what a loser.
jksisco at July 26, 2010 7:37 AM
I can honestly say I am worse off now than I was four years ago.
And next year will be significantly worse.
George Bush and his "tax cuts for the rich" saved me $3,000 the first year they were implemented. I cleared just over $100,000 that year.
If $100,000 counts as rich, I'm not feeling it.
This year, I'll be lucky to clear half of that. Two thirds, tops.
And next year, when I don't expect anything to improve on the income side, my taxes will go up by $3,000 because the progressive idiots in DC are going to let the Bush-era tax cuts expire lock, stock, and barrel.
Which means I'll have the choice of paying my taxes or paying my mortgage.
Thanks, 52%!
brian at July 26, 2010 8:28 AM
NicholeK:
He is getting all living expenses comped - and taking full advantage of it might I add.
RE: His home in Chicago - he got a sweetheart deal on and not only that, there was some funny business with respects to the acquisition of more land at a lower price after the loan went through (something like that) a la his friend Tony Rezko.
This man, and his wife are absolutely insufferable.
Feebie at July 26, 2010 9:04 AM
Eight vacations to date.
Crid [CridComment at gmail] at July 26, 2010 9:35 AM
Crid, I'd say he's taken too few and they've been too short, judging by the economic results thus far.
MarkD at July 26, 2010 11:53 AM
From an article linked on Drudge this morning - RE: Michelle's vacation with her daughter in Spain:
"Michelle Obama has reserved about 30 rooms for herself and her daughter, their friends and bodyguards at a five-star hotel in Benahavis near Marbella, hotel sources said."
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/336549,michelle-obama-vacation-spain.html
President sold separately....
Feebie at July 26, 2010 11:55 AM
Maybe Sasha and Malia can go out and get jobs when they turn 18, unless the Bush-0b0z0 recession is still in force.
mpetrie98 at July 26, 2010 12:15 PM
Don't be dropping this recession on Bush.
It was started by Dodd, Frank, Pelosi, Reid, and a few other cretins in the house and senate.
Bush was merely a footnote in that he wouldn't veto anything.
Obama's not totally to blame either, except that instead of benign neglect he's actively supporting Pelosi, Reid, Dodd, and Frank.
What I'm saying is that if you want the economy to recover, getting rid of Obama's not going to do it.
Pelosi and Reid need to be unemployed first. Dodd's quitting, and Frank's gonna die of fat soon anyhow; probably by choking on his own tongue.
brian at July 26, 2010 12:24 PM
doest the POTUS make 400,000 a year?
Free: Room & Board, travel, vacation, security.
I doubt he has to pay personally for the whitehouses electronics or the satalite feed.
Nearly half a million a year for 4yrs and not one fucking expense.
lujlp at July 26, 2010 12:36 PM
Frank sounds like he's about to choke on his own tongue every time he speaks.
As for Bush, he signed TARP. Whatever the merits, it added about 850 billion (bailout + pork) to our debt. As the debt increases, it can dampen economic activity as businesses start setting money aside to pay the steeper taxes that Congress will deem necessary to pay back that debt.
(To be fair, some of that 850 billion is still sitting around, and some has been paid back. All this money should be sent back to the treasury.)
mpetrie98 at July 26, 2010 12:46 PM
"doest the POTUS make 400,000 a year?"
Not enough. See this city manager makes twice as much as POTUS. Considering the amount of responsibilities Obama must take, we should pay him at least 1 million.
http://www.sodahead.com/united-states/should-broke-city-be-angry-about-city-employees-800k-salary/question-1117579/
Chang at July 26, 2010 1:00 PM
Has anyone considered that the government used repaid TARP money, which was borrowed in the first place, to fund extended unemployment in February?
Jim P. at July 26, 2010 1:08 PM
@mpetrie - that's as may be, but had it not been for Barney Frank, we would never have been in the situation that seemed to call for TARP at the time.
Barney Frank and Chris Dodd are the architects of the collapse of the banking/lending sector. They are the ones who nurtured the housing bubble. And when anyone tried to look behind the curtain at what Fannie/Freddie were doing, Barney was there to shout them down with that fat slab of shit bouncing off of his fat face in a cascade of spittle.
Bush signed TARP because people he trusted to know better (Bernanke, et al) sold him a bill of goods about how everything was going to end if he didn't DO SOMETHING RIGHT NOW!
So he's guilty of falling for that. But he was one of many who tried to rein in Fannie/Freddie only to be spat upon by Fat Fuck Frank.
brian at July 26, 2010 2:36 PM
Brian, the supreme irony here is that Freddy's Fanny has a blanket exemption, in fact if not necessarily in law, from the recent financial regulation bill. It does and always has run open loop, totally lacking any corporate governance. Not only that, but Dodd and Frank have repeatedly used it as political spoils for rewarding other leftists. Jamie Gorelick, after ducking having to testify about her role in 9/11, was rewarded with a no-work executive position at Fannie Mae which made her a multimillionaire.
Cousin Dave at July 27, 2010 8:33 AM
The Obama's reported $6.1M in income on their 2009 taxes, most of this from his book sales. I have no doubt that they have experienced ups and downs in their stock portfolio. But to characterize this as "not that far removed from what most Americans are going through", especially given that they now receive free room-and-board, travel expenses, lifetime security detail, lifetime health care, and a large pension, is disingenuous at best.
Do they seriously expect us to think that they're in danger of not being able to afford college for their kids?
AllenS at July 27, 2010 10:58 AM
lifetime security detail
They now normally pull the Secret Service Detail at the ten year mark. I think they will make an exception with Bill because of Hillary. But even then it is only as long as she's the Secretary of State.
Jim P. at July 27, 2010 7:04 PM
IIRC, the 10-year limit for a security detail for a former president was signed into law by George W. Bush. Bill is not an exception, he is the last president covered under the lifetime security detail policy.
Conan the Grammarian at July 28, 2010 9:26 AM
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