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Thread: Thoughts on what Trump is costing us?

  1. #1
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    Thoughts on what Trump is costing us?

    Normally I would never post something from FB, but the sources cited all seem to be factual.

    Even though I agree with a small set of his "policies", I still think he is nothing more than a con man. He will make a killing off of the American tax payers over the course of his presidency.

    https://www.facebook.com/cenlamar/po...message_bubble

    In his eight years as President, Barack Obama's vacations cost taxpayers between $85M-$96M. All told, he and his family were away 29 times, spanning all or part of 230 days of the 2,920 or so days of his tenure.Of course, a President is never really "off the clock," but conservatives loved complaining each and every time Obama took time away from the White House. Every trip was scrutinized. Every golf game he played became an example of how out of touch he was.
    By contrast, President George W. Bush took 88 separate vacations, spanning all or part of 533 days during his two terms.

    Today, we're a little less than a month into the Trump presidency. Here's where we stand thus far:

    • - $7 million for his Thanksgiving vacation to Mar-a-Lago. (Technically, he was still President-elect at the time, but taxpayers still footed the bill).
    • - $9 million for the three consecutive weekend trips to Mar-a-Lago (including the scheduled trip this weekend).
    • -$1.5 million for local, county, and state law enforcement in Florida.


    In addition, we've spent $400,000 - $500,000 a day for security at Trump Tower and $100,000 for Eric Trump to go on a business trip.
    On the low end, that's an additional $10.1M; on the high end, it's $12.6M. And that only includes the costs incurred since his Inauguration.
    If you include his trip as President-elect, we've spent at least $30.1M for his vacations to Mar-a-Lago and his wife's accommodations in a gilded penthouse in New York. If you exclude that pre-inaugural Thanksgiving trip, then it's still at least $23.1M, and again, we're only a month in.

    Here's what that means: At the current rate, Donald Trump's expenses will surpass the combined total of all eight years of Barack Obama's in less than four months.
    He is on track to charge taxpayers $277 million for trips to his resort in Florida and his wife's accommodations at their penthouse in New York City in his very first year as President.
    If he stays in office for eight years and his wife continues to live in New York, at the current rate, we would be on the hook for more than $2.2 billion (or 10% of the projected costs of the border wall he wants to build).

    Oh, and because he owns both properties, he is actually personally profiting from this arrangement. The Secret Service is paying his company rent, at market value, money that goes straight into his own pocket.

    The Art of the Steal.
    Last edited by Jeff; February 17th, 2017 at 11:53 AM.

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    Tony Fracasso - Admin
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    At this point in time I don't have an opinion on this. You need to invest money to make money.

  3. #3
    Member leftWNYbecauseofBS's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jeff View Post
    Normally I would never post something from FB, but the sources cited all seem to be factual.

    Even though I agree with a small set of his "policies", I still think he is nothing more than a con man. He will make a killing off of the American tax payers over the course of his presidency.

    https://www.facebook.com/cenlamar/po...message_bubble

    [/FONT]
    Please don't. Facebook is garbage and a pool of morons.


    As for the costs...won't put any value on what Lamar White posts. If someone wants to put up validated numbers...that would be a different story.

    Speaking of numbers, how much should the Trump administration or any administration be held accountable for when an outside agency is invoicing for protection. For example, it's been reported several places that NYC is spending $500k a day to 'guard Trump Tower'.... I would love to see a breakdown of how NYC is spending that money. Doesn't really help my perception that NYC might be milking this for all it's worth and then some when De Blasio makes it a political issue. Would also mention that the spend here to 'guard Trump Tower' is 3% of the NYPD budget.

    As for the cost of the trip for Eric Trump, who was in an official role by the way, costing $100k. The US spent $115,500.87 to provide protection for just Malia Obama to go on Spring Break...in no official capacity at all.

    Lastly, there is no denying the money spent on security for trips to Mar-a-Lago or the Golf course he has in New Jersey. But what is not mentioned, because idiots don't like details, is that these locations will be used multiple times. Just like the Kennebunkport estate and Crawford Ranch and for Bush I and II. So a reasonable conclusion would be to wait for several other vacations to happen and see what the costs look like then rather than taking the initial costs and multiplying it over 4 or 8 years. That's of course expecting the person not to be a moron or have an agenda.

    Should also be noted that Obama mostly took vacations at places he did not own. So one side could say that he was a swell guy because he didn't increase the value of his property. But on the other side one could say that he was wasteful and forced the US taxpayer to setup temporary protection setups multiple times over the course of his administration. This fact is also why they didn't cite the costs for Bush I and II as background to the Obama v. Trump comparison.

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    Quote Originally Posted by WNYresident View Post
    At this point in time I don't have an opinion on this. You need to invest money to make money.
    That's not the point of this at all...

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    Quote Originally Posted by leftWNYbecauseofBS View Post
    Please don't. Facebook is garbage and a pool of morons.
    A lot of the time, yes.


    As for the costs...won't put any value on what Lamar White posts. If someone wants to put up validated numbers...that would be a different story.
    1. Obamas numbers are coming right from records. http://www.judicialwatch.org/documen...-service-2015/
    2. Trump Travel costs are reported by NBC. I dunno, maybe this is "Fake News"? http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/...p-yuge-n687336
    3. Trump tower costs for Melania are here, although I have not seen 'offical' documents stating. Seems these are best guess estimates. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/wo...-a7456046.html
    4. The Mar-a-lago costs are based on similar trips that Obama took. http://www.gao.gov/assets/690/680400.pdf

    Speaking of numbers, how much should the Trump administration or any administration be held accountable for when an outside agency is invoicing for protection. For example, it's been reported several places that NYC is spending $500k a day to 'guard Trump Tower'.... I would love to see a breakdown of how NYC is spending that money. Doesn't really help my perception that NYC might be milking this for all it's worth and then some when De Blasio makes it a political issue. Would also mention that the spend here to 'guard Trump Tower' is 3% of the NYPD budget.
    Some of this is just BAU. I'm not a huge supporter of "everything needs to be reimbursed". We pay taxes for services, services should be able to budget for events. If there is some extraordinary event either planned or natural disaster, that is when we should talk reimbursements.

    As for the cost of the trip for Eric Trump, who was in an official role by the way, costing $100k. The US spent $115,500.87 to provide protection for just Malia Obama to go on Spring Break...in no official capacity at all.
    Sure. I have no issue with this.

    Lastly, there is no denying the money spent on security for trips to Mar-a-Lago or the Golf course he has in New Jersey. But what is not mentioned, because idiots don't like details, is that these locations will be used multiple times. Just like the Kennebunkport estate and Crawford Ranch and for Bush I and II. So a reasonable conclusion would be to wait for several other vacations to happen and see what the costs look like then rather than taking the initial costs and multiplying it over 4 or 8 years. That's of course expecting the person not to be a moron or have an agenda.
    Perhaps there are savings to be gained if the facility Security can be reused. I think the point is that Trump owns the resort, no?

    Should also be noted that Obama mostly took vacations at places he did not own. So one side could say that he was a swell guy because he didn't increase the value of his property. But on the other side one could say that he was wasteful and forced the US taxpayer to setup temporary protection setups multiple times over the course of his administration. This fact is also why they didn't cite the costs for Bush I and II as background to the Obama v. Trump comparison.
    [/QUOTE]

    You could say that. Time will tell I suppose.

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    "As for the cost of the trip for Eric Trump, who was in an official role by the way, costing $100k"

    Article says - "Eric Trump’s trip to promote a Trump-brand condo tower in Uruguay".

    Promoting the Trump brand is now "official" business?

    Wow, singing a different tune on this board these days.....

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    Quote Originally Posted by WNYresident View Post
    At this point in time I don't have an opinion on this. You need to invest money to make money.
    What exactly are US taxpayers investing in? Mar-a-Largo?
    Are you for real?

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    Quote Originally Posted by Bailey View Post
    "As for the cost of the trip for Eric Trump, who was in an official role by the way, costing $100k"

    Article says - "Eric Trump’s trip to promote a Trump-brand condo tower in Uruguay".

    Promoting the Trump brand is now "official" business?

    Wow, singing a different tune on this board these days.....

    100% stand corrected on that. Was a little worked up about the other stuff and misread what was posted.

    I'll just fall back to kids of the President go places and need protection and when they do it costs about $100k. Fair enough?

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    Tony Fracasso - Admin
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bailey View Post
    What exactly are US taxpayers investing in? Mar-a-Largo?
    Are you for real?
    I said "At this point in time I don't have an opinion on this. You need to invest money to make money. "



    I don't mean it in that sense that we are "investing" in a resort. Trump was elected and there will be security cost just like any other past president. I meant it as an investment in "trump" as president. There will be cost because of his way of life how he conducts himself. Totally expected.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Jeff View Post
    1. Obamas numbers are coming right from records. http://www.judicialwatch.org/documen...-service-2015/
    2. Trump Travel costs are reported by NBC. I dunno, maybe this is "Fake News"? http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/...p-yuge-n687336
    3. Trump tower costs for Melania are here, although I have not seen 'offical' documents stating. Seems these are best guess estimates. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/wo...-a7456046.html
    4. The Mar-a-lago costs are based on similar trips that Obama took. http://www.gao.gov/assets/690/680400.pdf
    Outside of Judicial Watch and GAO...the rest is not validated and conjecture. Sorry.

    Quote Originally Posted by Jeff View Post
    Some of this is just BAU. I'm not a huge supporter of "everything needs to be reimbursed". We pay taxes for services, services should be able to budget for events. If there is some extraordinary event either planned or natural disaster, that is when we should talk reimbursements.
    Not sure where you're going with this.

    I think it is very much possible that de Blasio, who is hated by a lot of NYPD, found a way to tell NYPD to pig out on OT 'guarding' Trump tower as an olive branch...while at the same time giving him something to bitch out when he is not race baiting. But that's just my personal opinion of course.

    Quote Originally Posted by Jeff View Post
    Sure. I have no issue with this.
    I was actually wrong.

    Quote Originally Posted by Jeff View Post
    Perhaps there are savings to be gained if the facility Security can be reused. I think the point is that Trump owns the resort, no?
    Not for me. There is precedent way before Trump on improvements being made on private property owned by the President at the time. Making a stink about it now is just childish.

    Also, I think to have an informed conversation on the topic of costs you would need to have all of the information. For example, I would like to know if Mar-a-Lago is being rented at full price while Trump is in office or is Trump not charging 'rent' because...as you say...he owns the place. Because we should remember that not only did Barry have security costs but he liked to stay at resorts that were pretty nice. Both costs were passed on to the taxpayer. Seeing as since Trump is going to pay out of his personal pocket the $200k for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to stay at Mar-a-Lago I am leaning towards he is not paying full rate rent. Could be wrong.

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    Tony Fracasso - Admin
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    I'm gonna through some gas on the fire. I was fine with his press conference yesterday. People were saying in the "news" that he was ranting blau blau blau..

    He was telling people how it is going to be and that he inherited a mess. I totally agree with that.

    carry on.

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    Member HipKat's Avatar
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    Every President inherits "a mess"
    Let me articulate this for you:
    "I'm not locked in here with them. They're locked in here with me!!"
    HipKat's Blog

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    Quote Originally Posted by WNYresident View Post
    I'm gonna through some gas on the fire. I was fine with his press conference yesterday. People were saying in the "news" that he was ranting blau blau blau..

    He was telling people how it is going to be and that he inherited a mess. I totally agree with that.

    carry on.
    I can see why some people were fine with it. I also (and am one of them) see why people think it was completely insane.

    Sorry, but having the President of the United States so cavalierly talk about sinking foreign ships in international waters, talk about Uranium like no one else understands what it is, and spout incorrect facts and then states "That is what I was told" (Who TF is working for you?) just does not appeal to me at all.

    I get that some people are just not great at articulating their words, but that combined with his apparent ignorance just turns me off completely. After watching McConnell today, its clear that Pence is pulling most of the strings and Trump is what he has been, an entertainer....

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    Quote Originally Posted by WNYresident View Post
    I said "At this point in time I don't have an opinion on this. You need to invest money to make money. "



    I don't mean it in that sense that we are "investing" in a resort. Trump was elected and there will be security cost just like any other past president. I meant it as an investment in "trump" as president. There will be cost because of his way of life how he conducts himself. Totally expected.
    So it was totally expected that we would support Eric going around the globe promoting Trump brand. Now, if you are ok with this than you have to admit you were a little crazy on Obama's vacations or the families' correct? Cause that was an investment too, Corrert?

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    Quote Originally Posted by leftWNYbecauseofBS View Post
    100% stand corrected on that. Was a little worked up about the other stuff and misread what was posted.

    I'll just fall back to kids of the President go places and need protection and when they do it costs about $100k. Fair enough?
    Fair enough. Just so long as you never critizised an Obama trip.

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