$2 Billion and all I got with this lousy T-shirt

[john_galt]

Lords and Ladies may it please you whilst I recount the adventures of our liege and lord King Barry. As you are all well aware the King prepares to journey forth on our dime again to the mysterious land of India. The only explanation given thus far is that our Master (hallowed be his name) wishes to observe the Festival of Lights. It is only natural that he and his family travel in comfort. Why else take 40 cargo aircraft, 3 Marine helicopters, an armored convoy, 34 navy ships, and 3,000 of his closest and dearest friends. Only costs $200 million dollars a day or a projected $2 billion dollars, cheap at the price! The King has promised to return laden with gifts for all his LOYAL subjects. The rest of us get T-shirts that are stamped "Made in India". What say you fine and noble gentlefolk?
http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/34...ma-visit-64459
http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/repor...bhavan_1461946
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010...sit-cost-claim

[Kaboom]

[matchingmole]

150 billion for the Iraq war...and no T-shirts either.

[PSD]

...and Dubya flew commercial?

[MsElena]

All the POTUS' have traveled the same way. Would you prefer him to hop on United with no SS to protect him?

[1963Cobra]

YES - That would solve a few problems. But then we would have Biden to get rid of.

[lacrew_2000]

No president should spend that kind of money, period. Its a ridiculous amount of money.

Having said that, the source of this story is:

a top official of the Maharashtra Government privy to the arrangements for the high-profile visit

Unless the state dept, pentagon, and SS make a habit of telling foreign 'officials' what things cost, I don't believe the story.

Think about it...with all the different agencies involved, does anyone believe that our own government even knows what this trip will cost?

[john_galt]

Sorry Elena but not all Presidents travel this way. That is not all secret service in those 3,000 people. In fact the only time a President took a coterie of warships with him was FDR when he traveled overseas during World War II. The only President to even come close to this display of egregious behavior was Bill Clinton (let the screaming about partisanship begin, but it is the truth) when he took 1600 people to China in either1998 or1999. Afterward, we found that he took his mother-in-law and school friends of Chelsea with him. He took so many aircraft from the area that the United States military and South Korea had to cancel military exercises. The claimed final cost of that little tour (there was no stated official reason) was $112 million dollars. Of course in a communist country you don't have to worry about paying for hotel rooms and such. India is a very capitalist country. Those 800 hotel rooms had to be paid for by someone and you, me, them are those someones.
Yep, those high government officials are saying the reports are wrong but they are not forthcoming with the real numbers aren't they.

[catnipdipper]

Grossly overestimated and poorly substantiated.

9 days in Asia........hhhhmm wonder what good may come of it like selling India very expensive Fighter Jets and beating the Russians and the French for the business? Perhaps persuading India to relax on Pakistan and allowing the Pakistani's to shift their military to the west to assist with Al Quaida? Some good stuff is possible and lots of business leaders are going along.

Probably cheaper in the end than wasting money on congressional investigations of paper clip thefts and trying to repeal Health Care. I doubt strongly that a mandate exists for this type of behavior.

How about tax cut(extensions) discussion and a focus on jobs and gaining or at least arguing for some trade parity?

Face to face, not via teleconference.

[KCJoe]

with the big stink my over Nancy's plane to her home district, I'm curious to what type of plane Bohner will be taking back and forth from Ohio. Won't need the long distance type that Nancy needed to get to the west coast. Maybe in the spirt of cost savings and smaller government, he'll fly comercial.

[lacrew_2000]

Look, I'm not a fan of the guy...but this story has no legs.

An anonymous source in India?

34 warships...what is that - 2 carrier battle groups? A tenth of the navy? Not gonna happen.

I think his political timing is strange, to do this right after the election. I think his insistence on going to the Ghandi museum hints at an anti-colonial Britain mindset....and I think the entourage is too big....

but, presidents take these trips all the time. This is not a good fight to pick.

[dirty dog]

Oh gee's who cares Galt, the President has to travel, when he does it costs money, just like all the money it costs whenever a congressman travels overseas on a "fact finding" mission to Spain or the Med or some other beautiful country. I know you are sporting a hard on because the GOP took the house, but if this is the mentality of your conservative compatriots your going to lose in 2012.

[catnipdipper]

Factcheck.org just said it was a totally bogus number. For a point of reference the Afghanistan War is $190 million per day.

Who said this; some Indian news agency, Glen Beck, Michelle Bachman, Mike Huckabee and so on. Just plain a waste of energy.

If there was a mandate from the election it is to focus on the economy and create jobs. Jobs as we KNEW them are no longer there. It is going to take some creativity and innovation to create jobs in new business and areas of focus. R&D should be king and a major focus.

[KCJoe]

This is from C&L.

Now, after the interview, we did some checking on -- on the claim that President Obama's trip to India is costing $200 million a day, which seemed like a lot when she brought it up. Congresswoman Bachmann said it's in news report. It may be on the Internet. That doesn't actually make it true, though.
It turns out the source of this unsubstantiated claim is not from Politico. It's from an Indian news report. And the original report is actually from an anonymous Indian source, allegedly an Indian provincial official. How he would know how much President Obama's trip is costing, I'm not sure.
After the interview, we went back, asked the White House for further details. They said -- quote -- "The numbers reported in this article have no basis to reality. Due to security concerns, we're unable to outline details associated with security procedures and costs, but it's safe to say these numbers are wildly inflated."
As for how inflated, we can get some idea from Bill Clinton's similar Asian trip as president, which is widely considered the most expensive ever. The estimated bottom line for that trip, $50 million, and not per day, but for the entire trip.


http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/...ma-administrat

[jayhawkrobbie]

This story has been debunked.

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2...lion-a-day-no/