obama managed his personal finances in the same way he manages the nation's - excessive debt!
Posted — UpdatedPresident Obama’s troubling mantra: In debt, we trust President Obama’s troubling mantra: In debt, we trust
By Richard Henry Lee
Saturday, May 2nd 2009
It is no surprise that President Obama supports unprecedented spending and borrowing in the federal budget since he has never suffered any consequences from the excessive spending and borrowing in his private life.
And I’m not just talking about the First Lady’s $540 sneakers.
During the presidential primary campaign, Michelle Obama complained how tough it was to make ends meet. During a stop in Ohio, she said, "I know we’re spending - I added it up for the first time - we spend between the two kids, on extracurriculars outside the classroom, we’re spending about $10,000 a year on piano and dance and sports supplements and so on and so forth."
Let’s examine how tough things were for this couple using various public records.
The Obamas’ adjusted gross income averaged $257,000 from 2000 to 2004. This is above the threshold of $250,000 which Obama initially used as the definition of being "rich" for taxation purposes during last year’s election campaign.
In 2003, they reported almost $24,000 in child care expenses and, in 2004, about $23,000. They also paid about $3,400 in household employment taxes each year. And as Michelle stated, they spent $10,000 a year on "extracurriculars" for the children.
Obama’s penchant for borrowing in his private life carries over to his public life.
He gave the Congress virtually free rein in writing the huge stimulus bill. He had no reservations whatsoever about the country assuming so much debt. Other Presidents have tried to work out compromises on spending measures since it is ultimately the President who takes responsibility for the consequences.
Obama did make a feeble attempt to control spending when he announced that his cabinet had found ways to reduce federal spending by $100 million. But this is laughable. Compared to an estimated $3.6 trillion federal budget, it is a minuscule 0.0028%.
To put this into the context of the Obamas’ income for 2004 of $207,647, this savings works out to $5.77, or about the price of an arugula salad.
Mr. Lee, whom the Daily News informs us is a California official writing under a pseudonym, is really on to something here.
As is the twig bent, so is the man.
Isn’t it funny how none of this came up during the campaign. Everyday we learn something new about this man.
If only we had a watchdog media to vet our candidates.
Indeed, the New York Daily News thought so highly of the piece they commissioned him to write it as an editorial for them – which is what we posted above.
In any case, it is certainly worthy of a reprint.