Who actually paid for the American State Visit Brooch?
score:7
Yeah, that gift while arguable from the American People, was paid for by President Obama.
I'm glad the Queen liked the Broach the Obama's got her from a small shop here in D.C., better than the ipod filled with President Obama's speeches gifted to her by the first family on the occasion of her 90th birthday in 2016. Before you turn your nose up at that, don't forget Gordon Brown the then British PM got a 25 set gift pack of Movie Theme CD's from the Obama's in 2009, which I believe I saw at Costco around the same time. And that's the Gifts given to the leaders of Britain arguable America's strongest most reliable ally!!!
Six US Presidents who were were Deep in Debt
President's do get a 50,000 expense allowance as well as a 100,000 travel allowance over and above their 400,000 salary. They also live rent free at the Whitehouse, travel free on Air force One, and Pay no costs for their own security..
Seriously though, Presidential Gifts and entertaining, come out of the President's own pocket. (State dinners can be paid for with Federal Funds, or sometimes private funds like the President's political party.) The President receives an itemized list of every meal served at the whitehouse eaten by himself, his family, or his visitors. It's one reason many American Presidents leave office in debt(except really wealthy presidents like Kennedy, maybe Trump, President Obama made money in the whitehouse on book deals). U.S. Presidential gifts are thus generally inexpensive compared to some of the gifts the President receives. The Obama's were not the exception to the rule, they basically were following the rules. Before you feel sorry for American Presidents, the debt for modern Presidents as you can imagine is temporary. As Former Presidents do extremely well financially with speaking and book fees. Sitting on the board of directors of large companies. Also they can draw salaries from libraries and charity foundations they work with not to mention the permanent salary and expense account they receive for the rest of their lives from the American People.
It's an odd sort of duality all gifts accepted by an American President are accepted on behalf of the American People. Any gift with a worth greater than $50 per event or $390 annually must be declared, and eventually turned over to the Government or in some cases may be paid for and kept. (Amy Carter's gifted baby elephant ended up in the zoo). But when the President gives gifts or entertains personally at the Whitehouse, that's all on his dime.
This is especially odd because if you wanted to give an American Politician 100 million dollars cash anonymously, that would be perfectly legal with a few accounting indirections, as long as you ran it through his parties political action groups.
Remember Hillary Clinton's claim about being broke when leaving he White house. Politifacts calls that claim false, not because they didn't owe more than their assets, but only because of the huge expected income awarded to former Presidents.
Hillary Clinton Says She and Bill were "Dead Broke" on leaving the Whitehouse
"Almost any president leaving office can expect tens if not hundreds of millions of dollars of future earnings as a result of their having been president," Hoopes said. "Speaking, consulting, board positions, and so on, are all very lucrative."
.
White House Living is not a Total Free Ride
Former first lady Laura Bush wrote in her post-White House memoir that she was expected to pick up the tab for every meal she ate at the White House or the presidential Camp David retreat -- for her husband's two terms. "The presidential room, as it were, is covered, but not the board," she wrote in her book, "Spoken from the Heart." While first families aren't responsible for utility bills or a mortgage, "it is more than fair that they pay for personal items like every American household."
.
Short Story dealing with President's poor salaries
In 1930 the country was mired down in the Great Depression and Babe Ruth signed an $80,000 annual contract with the Yankees. At the time the sports reporters noted that President Hoover was only making $75,000. Babe Ruth responded, Yeah but I had a better year than Hoover did.
Sources:
- Washington Examiner: This is What Obama Gave the Queen on Her 90th Birthday
- Washington Examiner: President Obama's Biggest British Gaffs
- BankRate: U.S. President who were Deep in Debt
- Politifacts: Hillary Clinton Says She and Bill were Dead Broke when Leaving Office
- CNN: White House living not total free ride
- The Gardian: The Ex-Presidents' Club
- PBS News Hour: The life of an ex-president after leaving office
- News Week: Unlimited Expense Accounts For "Former" Presidents? Not Anymore Under New Bill
- NY Daily News: London aghast at President Obama over gifts given to Prime Minister Brown
More post
- 📝 Who were the first two democratically elected leaders of Russia?
- 📝 Is the Kalashnikov Automatic Rifle 1947 still in production?
- 📝 What is the oldest verifiably correctly translated written work?
- 📝 Was smoking ever considered a throat cure?
- 📝 What was the Hundred Years' War called at the time?
- 📝 Is this trebuchet based on a real historical model?
- 📝 How were USSR oblasts and cities governed?
- 📝 Why did the US fleet not take defensive action against the U-Boats in 1941 despite intelligence from Britain's Enigma deciphering
- 📝 Historical Instances like the settlement of Pitcairn Island
- 📝 Why did Herzl's attempt to come to a political agreement with the Ottoman rulers of Palestine fail?
- 📝 Did the Ancient Egyptians understand the importance of the brain?
- 📝 What is a good introduction into (western) civilization?
- 📝 On the eve of the Democratic Republic of the Congo's independence, the country had virtually zero doctors, or any other intellectuals?
- 📝 Why did Ford pardon Nixon?
- 📝 Was mortality higher on French slave ships and if so, why?
- 📝 How historically accurate is Age of Empires III?
- 📝 Is this Civil War era uniform?
- 📝 Why did nationalism in all of Europe surge in the 19th century?
- 📝 Is there anywhere that has not been at war with Britain?
- 📝 Can anyone help identify this French military uniform?
- 📝 Is there any book depicting British rule in India from the eyes of British?
- 📝 What percentage of people were acquitted in "Stalin's trials"
- 📝 What happened at the Battle (or not?) of Luding Bridge, during the Long March of Chinese Communists in 1935?
- 📝 How successful were Einsatzkommando Tunis and how much was Rommel complicit?
- 📝 What were the borders of Egypt from 1798 to 1803?
- 📝 Can anyone help me identify this coin?
- 📝 Are these remarks by Napoleon on Jesus genuine?
- 📝 Did any age of sail ship have a "back-bone cannon"?
- 📝 Is this excerpt from an AI-generated answer re Portugal in WWII based on any real events?
- 📝 How did the "Forty Niners" get to California in 1849?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 Who actually paid for the American State Visit Brooch?
- 📝 Who had the shortest time in going from imprisonment to head of state within democratic processes?
- 📝 Who was responsible for the partition of India?
- 📝 When did the American War of 1812 actually end?
- 📝 Which Confederate State provided the most troops in the American Civil War?
- 📝 Which state capital did the Apollo 11 command module NOT visit after it returned from the moon?
- 📝 Were US exports in the early 1800s paid for with metal or with paper?
- 📝 How common was it for un-documented ships to bring settlers to the American colonies 1700-1750
- 📝 In the United States government, has there been cases that electoral colleges don't vote for the candidate the majority of their state voted for?
- 📝 How many acres per person were needed for the early American settlers vs. the native Americans?
- 📝 Did the US government officially apologize for Indian Removal Act and Native American Indian genocide?
- 📝 Who stood for the Roman consulship in absentia?
- 📝 How common was it for Americans to visit Europe in the late 19th century?
- 📝 Before Idriss Deby, who was the last head of state to be killed in combat?
- 📝 Did Roosevelt's New Deal lift the U.S. out of the depression or did it actually prolong the Depression and cripple American capitalism?
- 📝 Who were the candidates in the consular elections for 80 BC in Rome?
- 📝 What was the purpose for Kaiser Wilhelm's visit to Jerusalem?
- 📝 Who was blamed for shell failures on the Western Front?
- 📝 What Land Runs were there in the U.S., and were the Indians paid for their land?
- 📝 Were the Puritans for a State Church?
- 📝 How did the forces required for invading Norway compare to those actually used for invading North Africa?
- 📝 Were there any abolitionists imprisoned for being critical of the Congress or the President during the American Civil War?
- 📝 What is the term for a person who surveys the land and relays messages from a noble to his governed village?
- 📝 How did life change for the average American as a result of the end of World War 1?
- 📝 Who was the American settler Tolman of Kamchatka?
- 📝 Who is responsible for the oldest known calendar?
- 📝 What was the reason the Maronites lobbied for a state of Greater Lebanon?
- 📝 Who was the model for Trutat's famous painting Nude Girl on a Panther Skin?
- 📝 What factors made success a possibility for the South in the American Civil War?
- 📝 What was the reason for Gandhi's visit to Africa