Hypocrisy--more waste of taxpayers' money...

[Kewl X5]

So, GM execs were blasted for flying in private jets when asking for bailout money from Congress....

So, now that we are in serious economic trouble, why is President Obama is flying in Air Force One from DC to Denver to just sign the stimulus package?? Now on Wed, he'll fly from Denver to Arizona...why not save taxpayers some money by signing the bill in DC and video conferencing in Arizona?

What makes it even worse, why didn't VP Biden just "plane pool" with Obama...no, he takes separate plane, Air Force 2, to Denver as well.

I know flying to Denver to sign the bill was a political statement...normally I wouldn't care how the President uses Air Force One, but why blast GM execs for wasting money when you won't set the same example...

[X5Flyboy]

great point! it just proves they(well, most) are all hypocrits. No one is defining the problem. I see it as three parts.

1) the community recovery act of 1995, which told banks they had to make loans to people who normally would not be qualified and then fined banks that did not make enough risky loans. - admend this bill or get rid of it

2) the packaging of these risky loans into multiple investment entities (CMOs, CDOs, and other alphabet soup garbage) in an attempt to reduce risk (or hide it?) - allow loans to be divided up into min 5% portions; and then once packaged, don't allow that package to be divided (max 2 layers of risk)

3) "mark to market" accounting - this clearly only works during boom times. it artifically creates wealth, which is leveraged to 'create" more 'buying power' - think blowing up a balloon, and then building something on top of the balloon. when the air starts leaking out, everything built upon it starts to crash. this is what killed Midlantic Bank (pre-PNC)

IMHO, when congress changed the Ginny Mae & Freddie Mac loan value from $150K to $400K+, all they did was throw them under the bus. It ruined alot of pension plans and local governments who used these bonds for security and investment. The problem has always been Congress, but they will never admit it and will alway blame someone else.

[X5rolls]

Add hyprocisy to the list....

[X5Dawg]

Originally Posted by Kewl X5

So, GM execs were blasted for flying in private jets when asking for bailout money from Congress....

So, now that we are in serious economic trouble, why is President Obama is flying in Air Force One from DC to Denver to just sign the stimulus package?? Now on Wed, he'll fly from Denver to Arizona...why not save taxpayers some money by signing the bill in DC and video conferencing in Arizona?

What makes it even worse, why didn't VP Biden just "plane pool" with Obama...no, he takes separate plane, Air Force 2, to Denver as well.

I know flying to Denver to sign the bill was a political statement...normally I wouldn't care how the President uses Air Force One, but why blast GM execs for wasting money when you won't set the same example...

Some good points. I am assuming Biden went separately just for security reasons. But the real question is, why did he need to go in the first place. And like you stated, why Denver for both of them??

You left out the fact that Pelosi is still using a private corporate jet to go where she wants to go.

I totally agree that if these companies are asking for gov.'t assistance that they should be eliminating perks where they can, but the government should be leading by example. Just like sticking to a budget!!!!!

[LeMansX5]

Originally Posted by Kewl X5

What makes it even worse, why didn't VP Biden just "plane pool" with Obama...no, he takes separate plane, Air Force 2, to Denver as well.

dunno:

Secret service basic security protocol, chairman. President has no control on it. If they start listening to president on how security should be run, you and I would be camping in white house lawns. Obama did comment recently that AF1 is too spiffy.

[Kewl X5]

I will agree to that statement, EXCEPT, why did both need to go in the first place? Waste of money...speaking of that, since Congress wants to cap CEO's salary, why not look at themselves and give themselves a temporary salary cut for the next couple of years? No one in Congress is suffering like the rest of the middle class...

We run a small business and when we had lean years, we cut back our own paychecks....time for the government both state and federal to do the same!!

Originally Posted by LeMansX5

Secret service basic security protocol, chairman. President has no control on it. If they start listening to president on how security should be run, you and I would be camping in white house lawns. Obama did comment recently that AF1 is too spiffy.

[Mr.Black]

Kewl, Exactly great point, I would also like to add that the government should take a page from some of the Bank CEOs, clearly they have failed the people of America, so they too should get paid $1 until the economy is back on track (the government is "supposed to" represent the peoples' best interests not pay our bills, play games with our money, and control banks)

[Major04]

I wonder if "they" will give themselves pay raises this year? I wonder how "America" will act? Are we going to raise some HELL or take it like every other year? Also, don't forget that the "supposed" elected official get "free" medical for the rest of their lives?

And yes, I understand the need for security but, both at the same place? That's a big NO NO.

[Kewl X5]

Actually, my point was in this time of economic trouble, why even use more taxpayers' money to fly Air Force One to Denver to sign the bill when you could have sign the bill @ DC?

Nevertheless, did you know that in the 1100 page "stimulus" package, they did get a raise...

Originally Posted by Major04

I wonder if "they" will give themselves pay raises this year? I wonder how "America" will act? Are we going to raise some HELL or take it like every other year? Also, don't forget that the "supposed" elected official get "free" medical for the rest of their lives?

And yes, I understand the need for security but, both at the same place? That's a big NO NO.

[Lambeau]

Last Saturday Nancy Pelosi and her cronies stopped in here at Aviano AB Italy to start their 8 day "fact finding" mission in Italy. She gave a 10 minute speech for those of us that showed up to "show" support. She did state that she appreciated our service so after her speech I shook her hand told her thanks for her appreciation. I wanted to say much more but her assistants didn't allow her to mingle with any troops long enough to begin a discussion. I can't imagine why? I wonder how much money is being spent on this 8 day Italian vacation we are paying for. The cost of the Airbus A320 and all of the people on board has got to cost in the hundreds of thousands for the 8 days. What "facts" is she finding in Italy for 8 days that could possibly help America in any way??? Good job for those of you that voted for her & her boss who allowed this vacation!!!