It's OPM: Who Cares?

The Most Expensive Broadway Show Ticket, Ever:

Here’s what it took to give the Obamas a few grins.

At least one, probably 2 Gulfstream V luxury jets, total engines running time about 1:30 per a/c. Cost per hour = approx $2,000.00 for each a/c.

Six (6) [3 in NYC, 3 in DC] Presidential “white top” Marine helicopters, total engines running time per helo in each venue about 45 min does not include transit time for one set of three to travel to NYC and return to base at Quantico or Andrews.

Cost per helicopter about $3500.00 per hour per helicopter. At least one C17 cargo plane to carry the 8 or so vehicles for the Presidential motorcade, total engine hours on time = about 2 hours at $7,000.00 per hour.

It’s probable that a C130 or similar large cargo a/c was also in the mix at NYC for misc transport and back up. Cost unknown.

It was necessary to shut down or re route all air traffic that was within a couple of hundred miles of Obama while he was airborne. All ground traffic on the ground route was shut down.

Several score, perhaps hundreds of NYC cops were diverted from regular duties.

At least one probably two F16 fighters, cocked and locked, flying high and low cap all the time that Obama was on his little “perk” date night. Cost per a/c = $50,000.00 per a/c, pr hour.

His Secret Service bodyguard squad would have numbered at least 35. Squads of Secret Service investigators were diverted from regular duties to this drill, remember it was necessary to do a complete security background check on everybody who was in the restaurant, all the cooks, servers, patrons, etc. Necessary to do the same security check on everybody in the theatre, staff, theatre goers, actors, support, etc.

It was necessary to do a security sweep of all buildings immediately adjacent to each venue and of the route of Presidential travel.

The White House would have you believe that all of this cost just $24K. To quote Tonto: “They speak with forked tongues, Kemosabe”.

Compare this with Bush if you must, but remember that when Bush was President we had prosperity, Obama is now President and we are wracked by debt and recession.

When did leading by example fall from fashion? You’ve got to love Obama, he makes it so easy.

(From another forum, like this one)

xrayspx's picture

It's unfair to compare to Bush, you're totally right, because Bush spent so little time in Washington.

977 days conservatively, roughly evenly spent between Crawford, TX and Camp David.

That's 149 trips to Camp David, and 77 trips to the Crawford ranch, for those of us playing at home. This 2.5 years does not count time spent in Kennebunkport falling off Segways.

Remember, this is a "Wartime President" leading by example by being nowhere near the White House.

It's not to say he wasn't working, I do recall a photo of Bush clearing some brush surrounded by reporters. It was also in Crawford that he received the report "Bin Laden Determined to Strike Inside the US", that was a real page-turner.

The President was also visiting his Crawford home when Katrina struck, though it took him a few days before his fly-by. And a few more after that before actually landing.

I guess we'll have to wait another 7.5 years to see if Obama can fill the large shoes he must now, somehow, try to fill.

...The President was also visiting his Crawford home when Katrina struck..."

Bush made 21 visits to that Katrina debris field: Laura made 12.

It's that old partisan ploy at work: if the politicians don't visit, criticize the pols for "not caring".

...I guess we'll have to wait another 7.5 years to see if Obama can fill the large shoes he must now, somehow, try to fill..."

He's not going to do it by spending OPM at the rate of $1000 Billion per quarter. Hyper-inflation awaits...

...Remember, this is a "Wartime President" leading by example by being nowhere near the White House..."

In spite of persistent headlines critical of "Bush's War" in Iraq, that war has been successfully prosecuted. It's conclusion means that a new President is safe to visit a Broadway show.

Oh, wait. that war hasn't been concluded as promised. Ron Paul would have ended it by now.

Ron Paul should have been elected instead.

...Bush spent so little time in Washington. 977 days conservatively, roughly evenly spent between Crawford, TX and Camp David..."

During which time, both Washington and NYC were Terrorist targets: Bush's "Homeland Security" enabled Obama to attend Broadway shows in NYC.

Homeland Security's "data-mining" of cellphone conversations was doggedly and persistently criticized by partisans—but guess what?

Obama has authorized the continuence of that practice.

>>

Peace_through_Weakness

xrayspx's picture

I whole heartedly disagree with the wiretapping/datamining operations. It was illegal then, and it's illegal now.

I doubt even the magical Ron Paul could have made a military withdrawal in 6 months.

If we've learned nothing else from the last administration, it's that you need to spend OPM to make OPM, or something :-)

"...I whole heartedly disagree with the wiretapping/datamining operations. It was illegal then, and it's illegal now..."

When was data-mining made illegal?

xrayspx's picture

But the means by which they collected the data that they then mined.

As always, more crypto=more gooder. Right now we're still at the point that if someone is using strong crypto, it can be assumed that that person is sending something they want to keep secret.

The idea with PGP from the start was that if you get people to encrypt everything, then the "good stuff" is mixed in with shopping lists and emails to Mom. Privacy is not something that is only desired by druglords and terrorists, I want mine too.

Unfortunately, the bar to entry (download GPG, run plugin, create key) is too high/under-advertised, so no one does it.

I think I know what my next technical hackery tutorial is going to be though. "Install PGP/GPG on Windows, Linux and MacOSX and how to use it seamlessly".

The "seamlessly" is the hard part. Especially when it comes to searching emails.

"...Right now we're still at the point that if someone is using strong crypto, it can be assumed that that person is sending something they want to keep secret..."

America's enemies that have borders fit that assumption.

All that we collect from overseas, non-border, Terrorists substitute words that can change from time to time.

Obama "wakes up every morning and goes to bed each night worrying how to keep us safe".

If it wasn't absolutely necessary, he would disallow it: He's not incredibly stupid.

(Or even Jimmy Carter stupid).

>>

Peace_through_Weakness

Here's a thoughtful quote:

"You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity by legislating the wealthy out of prosperity. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that my dear friend, is the beginning of the end of any nation. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it."*
Adrian Rogers, 1931
oc 2009

Wow, oc. That's quite a quote! If only Obama, Pelosi, Frank and friends understood it! I heard an interesting thing the other day. They did a poll and asked how many wanted gov. health insurance. 73% did. Then they asked if they had to pay $45 a month how many wanted it. The poll number went down to 43%. And think about it, you could never get it for $45 a month!

xrayspx's picture

My wife and I pay more than that per month now. Now add the co-pays, referrals, etc and you can be talking about real money very quickly.

She pays $130/month for the two of us, but the company pays 15%, so the actual monthly is $152.94, or $76 each. Again, that doesn't include copays, drugs, or tests the insurance company flat-out won't pay for, and there are many.

What portion of that goes to keeping NH Blue Cross/Anthem execs millionaires? How much of that is administrative overhead in general?

We have NH insurance, because if I used my company insurance from MA, there's a good chance I couldn't go to my local doctors and hospital for treatment. What kind of shit is that?

Then look at Canada.

Cory Doctorow added slightly to the Canadian Healthcare Myths page I posted yesterday here. He makes honest comparisons between four nations and their healthcare systems. I believe he was born in CA, spent several years in the US, the last few in the UK, and apparently some time in Costa Rica as well.

That is very cheap x. My company pays just under $450 for a single a month.

I knew you'd like that quote! Here's another along the same lines, just for you.

"You can't eat your cake and have it too."
Ted Kaczynski 1995

xrayspx's picture

Old Ted would give you your cake, but it would be packed with rusty nails.

xrayspx's picture

I thought the same thing, like it's probably "We (my wife and I) pay 15% and the company pays 85%", which is probably more accurate.

Anyway, if you take out the bureaucratic costs and the fact that, just for BCBS, you have 50 little state companies, with 50 executive teams, each making millions, and consolidate it, that alone would be a huge benefit.

In Canada, if you want, you CAN pay your own and get private insurance and private coverage. The thing to fear here is that if the US ever gets a single payer system, which is something that is so far off the table the Single Payer advocates weren't even invited to the hearings, and then got dragged of in cuffs when they showed up anyway, ... IF we had a single payer system, you need to allow people to buy their own coverage, if they choose.

What Obama is proposing turns that on its head, and badly I might add: Don't do anything to the insurance companies, but, if you want, you can opt-in to the public system. The issue is that the insurance companies want to make sure that the public option isn't good enough that everyone joins it and puts them out of business, which is understandable.

Tell us again why BO adopted the "hated" Bush data mining—but unapologetically continues to "invade our privacy"?