American in Paris: $77,000 for rent

Please DO NOT tell Barry what comes after a trillion. This savings means NOTHING copared to what he spent in 100 days.

Barry has has had more defecit spending in 100 days than ALL other presidents COMBINED!

Go for it Obama!

This is the Swamp's fourth (4th) article today on this PR ploy, a ploy that even the pro-Obama Washington Post dismisses: "President Obama has said for weeks that his staff is scouring the federal budget, "line by line," for savings. Today, they will release the results: a plan to trim 121 programs by $17 billion, a tiny fraction of next year's $3.4 trillion budget.

The plan is less ambitious than the hit list former president George W. Bush produced last year, targeting 151 programs for $34 billion in savings. And like most of the cuts Bush sought, congressional sources and independent budget analysts yesterday predicted that Obama's, too, would be a tough sell."

The orders must have gone out from the White House to their media Rottweilers to ramp up the publicity on this. And if, dear reader, you're curious, do a search of the number of Swamp articles on Bush's (Larger) 2008 budget cut proposals. No, you won't find any articles, let alone 4 in one morning. Doubtless this is a coincidence that has nothing to do with how the Swamp writers voted.....

Is that really 6,461 a month in rent? I'm not slagging him, I'm just curious what this stuff goes for. If its a townhouse, thats one thing, and we all know that swanky penthouses here in Chicago command some swag, so this could be reasonable. Anybody know?

Let's get this straight. $77K +$21K = $98K. So office costs are $534K? How many more idiotic positions like this one are out there? I'd love to know the real breakdown of what percent of our tax dollar is used up in lining the pockets of government grifters.

If I did the math right, that $77,000. represents 0.000453 percent of the budget cut. Wow, that is a big savings; you go Mr. Preseident, keep up the good work!

The first posting, dear Bruce, was this one:

http://www.swamppolitics.com/news/politics/blog/2009/05/budgets_mirrors_and_the_media.html

Obama's proposed "cuts" proportionally say that 99.5% of government spending is justified. Sure it is. Remember that BS from the campaign trail about how he'd go through the federal budget and cut all the waste? You Tribune cheerleaders are trying to tell me that .5% is all the waste your favorite president could find? Get a clue.

The President announces $17 billion in budget cuts and you choose to highlight $77,000 in rent that is eliminated. Wouldn't cutting $35 million for an out-dated long-range radio navigation system that isn't used be a better example to highlight? The radio navigation system has been outdated by GPS yet has been funded each year until this cut. There is an interesting article.

Hey BDD,

Maybe you should go back to school and learn to spell "deficit" and "compared" correctly. Please note that deficit does not have 2 e's and compared is spelled with a m. Also, there is no need to use "has" twice back to back.

As for your cheap (and inaccurate) shots at the President, budget cuts have to start somewhere. Everyone knows that you eat an elephant one bite at a time and the same goes for trimming the fat from a budget.

Before you start in on all the spending that's happened over the last 100 days, let's just take a deep breath and remember that when President Bush took office in January 2001 there was a budget SURPLUS. He not only devoured that surplus but put us into massive debt and took the economy to it's knees. President Obama is doing what needs to be done to get us out of W's mess.

If the Obama administration is really serious about saving tax dollars then we WILL save hundreds of billions of dollars if they go after wasteful, unnecessary expenses like these, graft and corruption in all levels of government. While they're at it, someone should follow the money we give internationally for U.N. operations, Iraq, etc. etc.

There's a difference between trimming the budget (hopefully what Obama's doing) and trying to dismantle the federal government (what Bush and the rest of the wrecking crew tried to do). Shutting down OSHA, EPA and the Consumer Products Safety Agency isn't the same as running a lean ship.

It does seem like a drop in the bucket, though.

I lived in paris and rented a 1br flat for $2200/month. So $6600 is probably reasonable if the guy has a wife and kids.

Typical republican response from BDD. Turn something positive into something negative. Do you forget the 800 billion that W. passed to bailout AIG? Do you forget the over trillion spent on the Iraq war? Do you still think that he has spent more than ALL other presidents combined, or are you just talking out of your you know what?

"Please DO NOT tell Barry what comes after a trillion. This savings means NOTHING copared to what he spent in 100 days.

Barry has has had more defecit spending in 100 days than ALL other presidents COMBINED!"

This is the Swamp's fourth (4th) article today on this PR ploy, a ploy that even the pro-Obama Washington Post dismisses: "President Obama has said for weeks that his staff is scouring the federal budget, "line by line," for savings. Today, they will release the results: a plan to trim 121 programs by $17 billion, a tiny fraction of next year's $3.4 trillion budget.

The plan is less ambitious than the hit list former president George W. Bush produced last year, targeting 151 programs for $34 billion in savings. And like most of the cuts Bush sought, congressional sources and independent budget analysts yesterday predicted that Obama's, too, would be a tough sell."

The orders must have gone out from the White House to their media Rottweilers to ramp up the publicity on this. And if, dear reader, you're curious, do a search of the number of Swamp articles on Bush's (Larger) 2008 budget cut proposals. No, you won't find any articles, let alone 4 in one morning. Doubtless this is a coincidence that has nothing to do with how the Swamp writers voted.....

Mr. Silva:

Maybe you should respond. He is right you do seem to be very pro Obama lately. Maybe a little balance would be nice? Please respond - thanks.

Anyone notice how long Osrzag's neck is?

So I guess this guy will do all his own secretarial work, drive himself around, no security etc.......... My point, there would be a lot more people and taxpayer money involved. There will be more jobs, more money than what is described. If you believe the Gov't up front and take their words as gospel, then I feel sorry for you.

One half of one percent is all the President and his entire staff can come up with to cut...

How much did staff time cost for this masquarade ?

Poor Bruce; let's give him some righty news: "What we're trying to do here today is kick off a series of town hall forums so that we can get back to listening to the people. ...[It's] about listening to how we tap into the real challenges."
-- Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA), 5/03/09, discussing the GOP's National Council for a New America

VERSUS

Q: So, let's start with Rush Limbaugh, who seems to be mocking the idea of a listening tour. What do you say to Rush?
CANTOR: You know...really, this -- this is not a listening tour.
-- Cantor, 5/06/09

I have friends that are returning to the US after living in Paris. They have to sell their flat. It is in a nice neighborhood, close to good schools.

He runs a home office, so it is probably wired up for Internet.

I'm guessing that if the mission is important enough to have half milllion budget, but not important enough to be housed in the US embassy compound that a purchased flat would probably suffice.

If Obama wants to save some money why doesn't he get his illegal aunt out of the free public housing in Boston ?
Also, real citizens are waiting on a list while she's taking their apartment.

Oooooh - $634,000 for the DOE attache in Paris.

Why should we learn about how the French have extremely rigid education standards that put our standards to shame?

And a total of $17 billion cut! OMG!

That is 1 part in 200, or about the same as not by a Latte once a week for a year to the typical American.

Next year, Obama wants to spend $11,300 per person in the country, up from $6,500 per person last year.

This "savings" amounts brings it down to . . . . $11,244.

Such savings! How can he make such sacrifices for us?

How do I get such a job :)

Good move? Yes! PR move? Of course!

Why is this news? Save a 100 billion! That's news!

Liberal media bias has become a complete joke!

Still with the Bush vs. Obama garbage.

I guess it takes more than 100 days to figure out Bush is no longer the President?

Whenever Obama stops campaigning and starts to take responsibility for his blunders and costly mistakes in his first 100 days, I'll be surprised.

All the pandering and fawning by the press and deceptive reporting to try to make lemonaid out of this lemon president isn't working.

17 B is .45 percent of 3.5 T

one more time for those that need zeros... 17000000000 is 1/2 of 1 percent of 3500000000000

Thanks for the cutback Obuma

Its good to knock some things out of the discretionary piece of the budget, but discretionary is not where we spend our money folks.

Social Security, Medicare/Medicaid, Interest on the national debt, and defense. That's it folks. You could eliminate every cabinet level department except for DHHS, Treasury, Defense, plus SSA and still not be able to balance the federal budget.

Its nice to argue about earmarks and pork but can we please get serious and confront the real issues that this county faces?

As far as I can tell, no president has been able to reduce the size of the US Govt, even the conservative ones. Its a runaway train and the sooner we wake up the sooner we can fix it.

Everyone defending these actions and comparing him to Bush are missing the point. Some people voted for Obama because he promised to "go through the budget line by line" and so far all he as done is spend an astronomical amount of money. The fact that he has spent so much (and is planning on spending more) and is still promising tax cuts is absurd. Many people are disappointed that the one campaign promise they wanted him to keep has been flushed down the toilet.
www.stopkillingourdollar.com

Eight years of the Bush regime 11.5 trillion dollars ....priceless

Oh, really? Why is there even a Federal 'Department of Education'?!? It is not Constitutional, look it up. There'd be a tremendous savings! While we're on the subject of useless Departments, why the Energy department? It's been around since Jimmy Carter. It was supposed to reduce our dependance on foreign oil...how's that working out?

I guess it takes more than 100 days to figure out Bush is no longer the President?
Posted by: springfield | May 7, 2009 2:47 PM

I See....answer this one thing...who's presidency did this happen under? While the answer is Bush...for years we heard how it was all Clintons fault. So save the bull.

"jessica" stopped picking her nose, put down her crayon and scribbled:

" .... and compared is spelled with a m."

Bwahahahahahhaaaaaaaaaaaa a !

The blind leading the blind.

Somebody has been having a lot of fun in Paris on the taxpayers' ticket. How come ol' Georgy W Boy didn't eliminate this expenditure?

Obama isn't done cutting yet. But he has made a good start. Don't criticize the man for working on the problem.

Of course this is PR. There is no question about it. The underlying thread here is that Arne Duncan (SoE) did not have a political payoff to put in the spot.

Think about it! Why does the SoE need an attache to house in Paris? The attache could live in the US, fly to Paris for the meetings and still save money from the operating expense tab. Permanent housing w/expenses for an SoE attache? Get real.

Must be one heck of an escort service.

Now go after the attache's in Prague, Brussels, Geneva and Berlin et al. They're not needed either.

Jake Tapper of ABC News notes that one of Obama's "cuts" is to a program he signed into law not 2 months ago!

"Interestingly, one of the 121 cuts the White House is touting today is the “Los Alamos Neutron Science Center Refurbishment.”

Says the White House: "The programs in Terminations, Reductions, and Savings are ones that do not accomplish the goals set for them, do not do so efficiently, or do a job already done by another initiative. They include: ... Los Alamos Neutron Science Center refurbishment ($19 million). The linear accelerator housed here was built 30 years ago and no longer plays a critical role in weapons research.”

The president actually signed a bill giving $19 million to that very same program when he, behind closed doors, signed the omnibus spending bill in March that contained roughly $8 billion in earmarks, as Sen. Jeff Bingamin, D-NM, heralded in a press release.

“U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman today reported that President Obama has signed a spending bill that contains funding for important northern New Mexico initiatives," read a Bingamin press release from March 2009. "Bingaman worked to set aside funding for northern New Mexico projects. They include: ... $19.3 million for rebuilding the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center accelerator so the lab can use it to diversify into new science missions.” "

That's right. Obama starts a new spending program. Lauds the spending. Then lauds himself for cancelling said spending.

If the program could be cut, he shouldn't have signed it into law in the first place.

Acorn FRAUD is beginning to make headlines. Obama’s most important radical connection (he gave them $10B from the fraudulent spending package) has been hiding in plain sight all along? Obama has had an intimate and long-term association with the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (Acorn), the largest radical group in America. If I told you Obama had close ties with MoveOn.org or Code Pink, you’d know what I was talking about. Acorn is at least as radical as these better-known groups, arguably more so. Yet because Acorn works locally, in carefully selected urban areas, its national profile is lower. Acorn likes it that way. And so, I’d wager, does Barack Obama.

Are you kidding!?!?! He is proposing a $3+ trillion dollar budget (largest in history and a massize increase in spending!!) and we are talking about saving a few a couple $100K for an attache in France! I just fell out of my chair laughing!! Can everyone not see through this slight of hand PR spin. What happen to real journalism? Repeating what the White House spits out is NOT journalism.
This is shameful!!

Will he go on Leno and talk to me about this cut?

I wonder how much we'd save if Air Force One didn't fly around doing photo ops? I bet we'd save a bundle.

Of the $787 billion stimulus package, $500 billion goes to the states.

The bulk of the remainder is payoff to the unions and special interests that put him in office.

I guess Rodger bought into bush's "fuzzy math". bush, inc. spent over $11 trillion on the Iraq war and you keep saying that it's less than Pres. Obama's $3 trillion.
By the way, this "liberal" press you keep talking about....Rupert Murdock has had dinner with the bushies and Michael Goldberg own Goldberg News....republicans both.

I love how the southerners get out their calculators on every article like this.

Obviously this was piece was just put out there to try to show that the Dems are trying to trim things.

Maybe now you guys can calculate the deficit that the all mighty and all power Lord....errrr.....GWB got us in to.

If Obama wants to trim cost, how about the $328,00 for the "photo-op" in New York!! How ridiculous!! He has to give the OK for AF1 to fly, how stupid does he think we are to believe that he found out about this when we did!!

I bet 'Spin This' doesn't even know what a PAC is.

If Obama wants to trim cost, how about the $328,00 for the "photo-op" in New York!! How ridiculous!! He has to give the OK for AF1 to fly, how stupid does he think we are to believe that he found out about this when we did!!

I don't understand the article. One sentence lists the item as part of a budget cut. The next lists what sounds like justification for keeping it in the budget. Is it something Obama wants to cut or something he wants to keep?

Wonder how much is allowed for eating, for sure not back bean soup and french bread.

Good move? Yes! PR move? Of course!

Why is this news? Save a 100 billion! That's news!

Liberal media bias has become a complete joke!

Are they accepting applications for these kinds of jobs?

I'd even take a ten percent cut if they'd just hire me for one of these paper-shuffler jobs.

National Council for a New America is actually a good idea. Not all good ideas work, and I have doubts about this one.

This sounds a lot like the stabbin cabin that Bernie Kierik had down by Ground Zero in NYC. Which Bush Pioneer contributor got to be the attache ?

President Hussein is my hero! Wow, he has really saved us alot of money. How about that $800 billion and then the other $480 billion? Anything we can save there in all of those earmarks that you campaigned against? Mice research in San Fran? Etc...?

Recession is when your neighbor loses his job. A Depression is when you lose your job. And a Recovery is when Obama loses his job.

While we are all ripping the President to shreds for such cutting what is such an obvious waste of money, can anyone tell me who approved this gross expenditure in the first place? It wasn't the current President, and it had to be someone. I find the level of scrutiny with this President amazing. Maybe if we'd dogged the last President this way, we wouldn't be suffering the effects of bank deregulation right now.

The President's ignorance is showing badly by this vain attempt of justification.This is another example of this Administration run amuk.

If our President wants to enhance computer technology in schools-fine, but perhaps governmental education should also be considered like a lesson in email, cellular phones and even letter writing via snail mail would be much cheaper.

No American worker needs to live in France or anywhere else unless direct embassy related business since our country is almost owned by China as it is.