Just how much is a trillion?
As I write this, the U.S. national debt is 12,385,926,000 and counting. And when watching the debt clock, the millions digit goes about as fast as the dollar when you are pumping gas.
So in order to understand how much a trillion actually is – let alone 12 trillion – let’s put this into perspective.
Having done all the calculations myself, I then came across DefeatTheDebt.com, an amazing website that had apparently already done all the work far better than I could. And for my fellow critical thinkers, you can even verify their findings.
But it took from George Washington to Ronald Reagan before our debt reached $1 trillion. Now it’s over $12. Our society won’t last long if our politicians keep spending money that we don’t really have.
Of all the incredible things they put up, what really gets me is that if I spent $10 million dollars a DAY, it would still take me 273 YEARS to spend one trillion dollars. And that’s without a few trillion dollars of revenue coming in each year. Knowing that, how in the hell has Congress managed to spend $12 trillion dollars more than what taxpayers already give them???
In: Economics · Tagged with: Congress, fraud waste and abuse, national debt
Pelosi’s family misusing Air Force transport?
Doug Ross has even more on Nancy Pelosi’s apparent misuse and abuse of Air Force travel. It seems that government documents recently released by a Judicial Watch FOIA request chronicle Pelosi family members frequently having the Air Force ferry them across the country – often without the Speaker accompanying them.
Now her family is quite wealthy and her children are certainly old enough to travel on their own (Pelosi turns 70 in March), so why then would they be freeloading on taxpayer backs?
In: Politics · Tagged with: corruption, fraud waste and abuse, Nancy Pelosi
Analyzing Pelosi’s travel tab
Recently released government documents show that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s travels cost more than $2.1 million. But why is the bill so high?
Based on my research of the documents, the aircraft most often used by Pelosi was the eight passenger C-37 – the military version of the luxurious Gulfstream V – which costs a whopping $5,594 per hour to operate. While that sounds expensive, it is certainly much more economical than the $20,000 per hour it costs to operate the 54-passenger military version of the Boeing 757 that Pelosi requested shortly after taking office.
The 757 is a vastly larger plane than the small Gulfstream jet that Pelosi’s predecessor Dennis Hastert used: when configured for commercial flight, a civilian 757 can carry almost 300 passengers.
Prior to 9/11, the Speaker actually flew commercial. With today’s heightened airline security risk, however it could be a national security risk for Pelosi to perhaps be seated alongside an al Qaeda suicide bomber. But let’s compare what the Air Force – and ultimately the taxpayer – is paying to fly her versus the costs of flying commercial. According to a search for airfare prices, a first-class ticket from Washington, D.C. to San Francisco only costs about $800. Now compare that to Pelosi’s average bill of $28,210.51 – one could fly 35 times for the price of one of her hops on the Air Force Gulfstream. And that’s without the alcohol, meals, snacks, newspapers, etc. that the Speaker, her family, and other fellow travelers incurred.
Regarding travel expenses, I usually stick to a Dr. Pepper and a maybe a piece of beef jerky if I eat anything at all. But Judicial Watch said Pelosi and her entourage managed to rack up an incredible $101,429.14 bill for in-flight expenses according to the receipts found in the documents. Apparently her Air Force transit seems to have become more of a luxurious party barge rather than the secure mode of transportation it was likely meant to be.
Bearing all that in mind, it seems outrageous for the military to spend that kind of money ferrying a politician and her family from Point A to Point B when there are surely more urgent needs for defense dollars on the battlefield.
[Originally published at The US Report]
In: Politics · Tagged with: fraud waste and abuse, Nancy Pelosi, US Air Force
Pelosi’s ‘Air Force Scandal’
The 54-passenger Boeing 757 requested by Pelosi to carry her to and from California and Washington, D.C. (U.S. Air Force photo)
Democrats living large on the taxpayers’ expense? Surely not.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has racked up an amazing $2.1 million travel tab during the last two years according to government documents obtained by Judicial Watch through a FOIA request. The Air Force Gulfstream V she rides costs almost $6,000 per hour (an average cost per flight of over $28,000). But that’s nothing when you consider the $22,000 per hour price tag of the Boeing 757 that she requested for ferrying her between her district and Washington.
Interestingly enough, over $100,000 of which was for alcohol and food. What is she eating, unicorn steaks?
Now I understand that for national security reasons, Pelosi shouldn’t travel commercial. But a non-stop flight from D.C. to San Fransisco (first class) costs around $800. In fact, it would take Pelosi 35 first-class commercial flights to equal the cost of one trip on the Gulfstream. She may be second-in-line to replace POTUS, but she isn’t Queen.
If the Air Force is willing to take suggestions, I say that they should palletize her and her entourage and put them on Space Available transportation.
Looking forward to the ’60 Minutes’ expose on this. Holding my breath even.
In: Politics · Tagged with: corruption, fraud waste and abuse, Nancy Pelosi, US Air Force
Obama’s Stimulus Package
This is a transcript of the Unto the Breach program. Click here for the audio.
Edwardsville, a little town in Alabama with 194 people has requested over $375 million worth of proposals to Barack Obama’s quote-unquote stimulus package. That’s just shy of $2 million per resident, but Americans can breathe a sigh of relief as the town’s representative, E.D. Phillips says that the projects will affect 80,000 area residents. Edwardsville also wants your money to replace their street lights with solar powered lights. The price tag? $3.5 million dollars. How many street lights can a town of 194 need that it costs $3.5 million?
Tom Schatz, the president of Citizens Against Government Waste replied: “This really exemplifies the problem. Why are we buying light bulbs for a local community? If a municipality wants to save money, [it can] go out and buy the light bulbs. There is no reason the federal government should buy them.”
Add another $50 million to install their water pipes beneath the roads to transfer heat. Then Edwardsville wants a $32 million dollar museum and information dissemination center for renewable energy. How many families will plan their vacation to go to the “renewable energy museum and information dissemination center” in the middle of nowhere? Impressive, but it falls short of the $55 million mob museum in Las Vegas. (more…)
In: Politics · Tagged with: Barack Obama, Constitution, fraud waste and abuse, natural-born citizen, stimulus, Supreme Court
