The $50? Million Dollar Inaugeration

I think Oprah should up her donation to cover the gap. The American people have been pretty damn loyal to her.

Did everyone miss my first post? http://able2know.org/topic/127915-2#post-3533256

It isn't a waste. The money isn't being thrown away. It is being spent. In fact, finally some people are getting the benefits of government spending without killing anyone.

And, only $10 m is government money, the rest is donation. Correct?

squinney wrote:

Did everyone miss my first post? http://able2know.org/topic/127915-2#post-3533256

It isn't a waste. The money isn't being thrown away. It is being spent. In fact, finally some people are getting the benefits of government spending without killing anyone.

And, only $10 m is government money, the rest is donation. Correct?

Yes. The only problem with the donated money is that most of it is coming from the big corporations that Obama previously said he wouldn't take. On the face of it this is probably innocuous. But sooner or later some of those same corporations are going to especially benefit from some government contract or policy and it is inevitable that it will be pointed out that the corporation gave X dollars for Obama's grand inaugeration. No matter how innocent he might be, that is a problem he could have avoided. But as we've seen for decades now, it won't likely be a serious problem for him either.

I have a problem thinking in terms of only $10 million though. That's uses up all the that taxes that my family plus a whole lot of other people will pay in our entire lifetime. It isn't comforting to think of all of our money going for temporary ballons and caterers and sound systems and crowd control in Washington DC and benefitting nobody anywhere else including here in New Mexico where many areas are experiencing really hard times right now.

So there's all sorts of ways to look at it.

Sorry but I don't see $10 million as a minor expense. And I certainly don't see $50 million as a minor expense.

So I think I'll continue to be concerned about all of them.

The war expense is a different subject, Cyclop, and should be discussed in a different context than this one. One has nothing to do with the other.

However, after reading everybody's comments, I think I have pretty much formed an opinion about all this:

While I, like Hamburger, don't want to rain on the parade and won't be condemning anybody for holding it or attending it, I think Aiden nailed the point my subconscious was searching for. That point is that Obama got elected with a promise of change that we can believe in.

I think all but the most bitterly partisan very much want him to succeed in doing great and wonderful things for the country. He could have gotten us off to a great start by demonstrating in a very compelling way that he indeed is an agent of change by setting an example of not spending borrowed money on non-essentials and foregoing the grand inaugeration marathon. Instead, he chose to be just another self-serving politician basking in the glory and ignoring the cost like all his most recent predecessors have done.

I wish he had chosen to be different.

I think all but the most bitterly partisan very much want him to succeed in doing great and wonderful things for the country.

My best hope is that Obama's policies will fail, and Republicans can once again provide a much needed balance to the Democratic majority that threatens to run roughshod over us in Washington with all manner of really bad new policies.