Posted on 02/22/2009 5:18:40 AM PST by personalaccts
Millionaire ex presidents get millions in perks Posted By: Mike Deeson 1 day ago
Tampa, Florida - When Barack Obama was sworn in as the nation's 44th president last month, all the focus was on everything new in Washington. However the change of command is as much about out with the old, as it is in with the new.
While George Bush held the title of President for 8 years, he is now a member of another unique club, the ex-presidents of the United States. The members of the ex-presidents club also happen to be millionaires. It is a club that has plenty of perks that weren't available until after Harry Truman left office.
Truman, who was sworn in after Franklin Roosevelt's death, was not a wealthy man. After he left office, he was living on his World War I pension. However by 1958, Truman told Congress he couldn't even afford stamps for official business. Congress immediately passed the Presidential Pension Act and gave him $25,000 salary benefits and staff.
Not many former public officials get the same kind of perks the ex-presidents do. Former Florida Governor, Bob Martinez is an excellent example. After serving as governor and the country's Drug Czar in Washington, he came home to Tampa to be an ordinary citizen again. Martinez says he's adjusted quite well.
Although Martinez gets a $21,000 pension from the state, gone are the chauffeured limousines and the cooked meals at the Governor's mansion. Martinez says he even learned he had to find own parking space.
Martinez says he had to get used to the fact there was no agent in the car keeping it perfectly climate controlled until he would get in. The former governor says he had to fend for himself in garages and with street parking.
But that's not the case for our former millionaire presidents. Bill Clinton, for example, has earned more than $29 million in book revenues and $52 million from speeches since he left office, but taxpayers are picking up tab for many presidential perks.
In addition to the $191,300 Clinton and the other ex presidents receive as a pension, taxpayers pick up office expenses- $102,000 for Jimmy Carter, $175,000 for George H. Bush and $516,000 each year for Bill Clinton.
Cheyenne Gomez, who runs a downtown food stand, says she has a problem with that.
But the office expenses are just the beginning. We pay their phone bills- $10,000 for Carter, $17,000 for Bush and $79,000 for Clinton. Postage is included in the perks averaging about $15,000 for each ex president. When you consider $15,000 at 42 cents a letter that's 35,714 letters we are paying for.
Gomez says she has to pay for her own stamps, her rent for her business and all her expenses. She doesn't understand why the former presidents can't.
Then there are the miscellaneous charges. We pay for things like the Wall Street Journal subscription for Bush 41; Bill Clinton gets satellite TV in his office, complete with eight separate receivers and all the movie channels that come with the "entertainment package". Your cost for that is $1,800 per year.
Taxpayer Heidi Hartwig wonders what Bill Clinton is watching on cable. Hartwig asks if he gets the adult channels.
But here is something that doesn't seem to make sense. At the same time that taxpayers are spending millions on things like rent, office supplies, and cable TV, the government is dropping Secret Service protection for ex-presidents 10 years after they leave office. Congress has determined the protection is too expensive for taxpayers.
Congresswoman, Kathy Castor, a Tampa Democrat says stopping Secret Service protection after 10 years is a way to control costs but she says if there is a threat against the former president's life we should do all that can be done to keep them safe.
Castor agrees with most people we talked to who say cutting back on Secret Service protection is not a way to save money, however even she was surprised taxpayers are spending so much on perks.
The perks, including travel, that runs as much as $ 56,000 a year; staff $96,000; other services up to $83,000; printing which can cost $14,000 per president; supplies that cost $26,000 and equipment up to $69,000.
Castor says particularly in these tight economic times, Congress needs to look at the perks. She says she wasn't aware taxpayers were covering all those costs.
And while some have no problem with the perks, most we talked to don't think the $2.9 million we spend each year on perks is worth the money.
And now with Bush 43 joining the ex president's club, that cost is going to go up even more.
Click Here to read the Federal Pension and Retirement Benefits.
Mike Deeson, 10 Connects
How much of this whining is politically motivated? If Bush were a Democrat would this whine be screaming that he is not receiving Secret Service protection for life?
Goooood Lord!...now it's Bush's fault that he's an EX president. These people really are deranged.
Our ex-Presidents are legitimate Americans with the rights of Americans.
Taking their perks away sounds like the class warfare that the socialists love so much. They earned their perks as they grew old and gray in office.
priceless.
Lifetime protection for ex-presidents will be re-established before 0bama retires.
President Truman was in no way a wealthy man. I remember seeing him mow his own lawn at the Truman Home in Independence, MO, which is now a national Historic Site. It's a rather nice home,IIRC, that home was actually owned by Bess' family, though I may be thinking of the Truman Farm.
Two things that set President Truman apart from most others who have aspired to, or actually held the office, were his humility and optimism. Here are 2 quotes that are among my favorites of the man...
“Nothing is so bad it couldn’t be worse.” and “If I lose though I guess I’ll take a whack at something else. I can’t possibly lose forever.”
Compare those to what we're hearing out of Washington, DC today. One other thing to note, which is quite apropos for these times. President Truman was a failure at most business he attempted. But he refused to seek shelter in bankruptcy, and eventually paid back all of his debts.
Mark
As I recall, we see these sorts of articles every time a President of the USA with a "R" leaves office: Never after one with a "D."
Surprised? You shouldn't be.
Mark
He won’t.
You can take that to the bank — absolutely they would be screaming he wasn’t getting USSS for life. Look at how long the Clinton daughter had USSS protection — long after he was out of the WH.
Difference between Clinton and Pres GW Bush — Clinton didn’t have two nickles to rub together when he became President and Pres Bush was already a multi-millionaire after selling his stake in the Texas Rangers when he became Governor. After leaving office the Clintons were worth millions and today Ms. Clinton is begging for people to pay off her campaign debt. Why didn’t they write her a check to pay off her campaign account? Wonder if her debt is now paid with her recent visit to Indonesia?
Yep - more BDS. And I ask you - of all the former presidents, who is the one most likely to have some nutbag attempt to do him in?
Secret Service protection he can get. Free long distance, stamps, health insurance, a pension NO. He has money. He daddy Bush, Clinton, Carter, none of them deserve free stuff. NONE OF THEM. Nixon was man enough to give up Secret Service. I’m a conservative by the way.
For the fact that I pay my way these millioniares can pay there on way. I’m a conservative. I don’t like to waste money. I pay for my direct tv I don’t care to pay for Clinton’s porn fest. If I want a newspaper I pay for it, I don’t expect to pay for GHWB. I don’t care which party you are a part of it’s wasteful spending. Pay for protection that’s it, even Nixon gave that up; to save the country money.
Nixon gave it up to save money.
Should live under the same rules as those on SS. If they make “too much” money they lose their pension. I always remember the man many here hate. Ross Perot said “We need men to serve instead of cashing in.”
Bush already was a millionare. Clinton used politics to become one.
Take a look at the disproportionate expenses Clinton has compared to Carter and Bush-I.
His phone and office expenses are 2 to 3 times what the other two have. I bet Bush-II will have less expenses.
I think there is something fishy going on with Clinton's expenses, as in they aren't legitimate. He's padding the bill somehow.
Of course, there will not be an audit.
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