It’s Not About the Money, Money, Money….

It’s not about the money, money, money

We don’t need your money, money, money

We just wanna make the world dance,

Forget about the Price Tag.

What a wonderful President!  Feeling so sorry about the sequestration in April, Obama returned 5% of his annual salary back to the Treasury!  $20,000–how nice!

Obama’s decision grew out of a desire to share in the sacrifice that government employees are making.  What sequestration?  Has anyone heard about this lately?

Sequestration will force the U.S. Naval Academy to cancel some classes, U.S. News has learned, as the military grapples with smoothing the effects of the across-the-board cuts while also proving they are painful and unnecessary.

About 2,400 civilian employees at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda will be forced to take 11 unpaid furlough days starting July 8 due to across-the-board federal budget sequester cuts that started in March, officials said.

Tennova Healthcare is cutting employee benefits and says the budget battle in Washington is to blame.  Tennova says its employees will not be earning vacation time for the next 120 days. They can still use accrued vacation time.  Long-term disability, 401K matching and other benefits are also being cut. Tennova explains that with mandatory federal budget cuts in place, many hospitals are seeing payments go down while costs rise.

Sequestration Closes Home-Based Head Start Program

Sequester cuts to the Meals On Wheels Association of America. Based on a survey of Meals on Wheels programs across the country…nearly 70% of Meals on Wheels survey respondents have reduced the number of meals served to the nation’s hungry and homebound seniors.  Among the findings survey respondents revealed:

▪                Programs have been forced to cut, on average, 364 meals per week;

▪                Over 70% are establishing or adding to existing waiting lists;

▪                Programs have increased their waiting lists on average by 58 seniors;

▪                40% of programs responding have eliminated staff positions; and

▪                One in six are closing congregate meal sites or home-delivered meal programs

If Congress doesn’t do something about sequestration this year, the workers who clean the U.S. Capitol could lose their jobs.  President Obama said in March:  “Starting tomorrow everybody here, all the folks who are cleaning the floors at the Capitol — now that Congress has left, somebody’s going to be vacuuming and cleaning those floors and throwing out the garbage. They’re going to have less pay,” he said in a March 1 news conference. “The janitors, the security guards, they just got a pay cut, and they’ve got to figure out how to manage that. That’s real.”

Too bad military, too bad civilians, too bad healthcare workers, too bad toddlers, too bad seniors and too bad janitors…

Ain’t about the (ha) Cha-Ching Cha-Ching.

Aint about the (yeah) Ba-Bling Ba-Bling

Wanna make the world dance,

Forget about the Price Tag.

 Ahhh… the lavish lifestyles of the POTUS and his family on my money… I want some of that!  How I wish I could have been there for the first luau at the White House back in 2009, and gone to Spain in 2010 with the first lady and her entourage of friends at a price tag of around $400 K taxpayer dollars…Even the NY Daily News wasn’t happy about Michelle’s Spain trip:  “Michelle Obama seems more like a modern-day Marie Antoinette – the French queen who spent extravagantly on clothes and jewels without a thought for her subjects’ plight – than an average mother of two…I don’t begrudge anyone rest and relaxation when they work hard. We all need downtime – the First Family included. It’s the extravagance of Michelle Obama’s trip and glitzy destination contrasted with President Obama’s demonization of the rich that smacks of hypocrisy and perpetuates a disconnect between the country and its leaders.”

We mustn’t forget those trips to exotic Hawaii, $1.5 million in 2010 and $4 million in 2011.  And have you seen Michelle’s wardrobe? Too die for!  Naked DC wrote, “She claims to be a champion of the poor and a fellow bargain shopper, but yet, here she is, sporting a dress that no unemployed American can afford.”

Then there was the Highlands of Ireland trip costing $5.2 million

• Michelle, and two daughters, Malia, 14, and Sasha, 11 toured tourist attractions in Dublin on Monday
• First Lady in $3,300-a-night suite at lavish Shelbourne Hotel
• Michelle’s entourage takes 30 rooms at the 5-star hotel

I wish I could take my own daughters on a trip like that, complete with suites and an entourage–but I digress…

Of course the Obama’s generously cancelled their planned 8-day trip to Africa because it wouldn’t be “fair” to have taxpayers foot their $100 million bill…

Yes, a sequester is still going on–but don’t forget, POTUS did give back $20,000…

Seems like everybody’s got a price,

I wonder how they sleep at night.

When the sale comes first,

And the truth comes second,

Just stop, for a minute and

Smile

— Jessie J