Obama Inauguration Fiesta Most Costly in History

The glitter dust is clearly shinning brightly on President-elect Barack Obama. Now it is being reported the cost of the Inauguration will total a whopping, $170 million (or more.) How that kind of money can be spent, while much of the country is suffering, in the worst economic times since the 1920’ is mind-boggling.

‘Where’ that huge sum of money comes from is also surprising with banks, brokers and Wall Street giving over $7 million.

More numbers reveal the actual swearing-in will cost $1.24 million, however, security, parties and portable toilet rentals dramatically run up the bill.

The government? Latest estimates show around $49 million will be dropped on the inaugural. Washington, D.C., Virginia and Maryland have asked for $75mil to help pay for extra cops, fire and ambulance services.

Linda Douglas, a spokesperson for the inaugural committee who will handle the party, proudly declared, “We have a budget of roughly $45 million, maybe a little bit more!”

Private funds to the tune of $42.3 was spent by President Bush’s committee in 2005 and $33 million spent for Bill Clinton’s first inaugural in 1993, so this makes Obama’s fiesta the most costly in history. All this when, American is in the worst shape, economically speaking, in over 80 years.

In defense of the obscene amounts of cash being spent, Douglas said, “The money is going toward providing events which we hope are going to connect people, make them feel like we are all in this together and reinforce the notion that when we pull together, we’re stronger,” Douglas said. “And we need to pull together to face the challenges that are before us today.”

Although this is, without question, a historic event, it will also be historic for not being sensitive to the hardship many Americans are experiencing. Did we really need to drop all that coin on a Bruce Springsteen concert, a parade and countless big-screen TVs for convenient viewing at the national Mall? How about Smithsonian Institution charging $700,000 to just stay open. Surely there are a historic number of families, who could use that money to save their house from foreclosure, or even to put some food on the table.

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