Kerry's Upkeep
John F. Kerry is one of the richest Senators in Government. If
elected President he will be the second richest President ever....second only to George Washington. J.F. Kennedy would follow as the third richest. When someone is elected president, it means the Secret Service has to protect the President and his family as well as his property.
The Kerry's have five US properties not counting the several foreign properties they also own . The annual costs to run these homes are more than what the average American earns, even if the rent was free, and all you had to pay for was the water, gas & electric, grounds keepers, maintenance, pool, and house keepers. If Kerry were to be elected President the taxpayers would be required to pay for all that . Another cost to the taxpayers would be a security staff 24 hours a day to survey the perimeters and to protect the properties. In addition to that we will have to pay for security improvements for each of their homes even if they never go to them all. This takes all the expense off Kerry and puts it on us.
Another major cost to American taxpayers is the protection for all their properties with Secret Service agents. This requires 5 agents per 6 hour shift......that means they shift 4 times a day, 365 days of the year. This will go on for the rest of their lives so long as they own those properties. The taxpayers are required to pay for all this as well as his annual salary
and his retirements.
Five properties need to be protected This means five Secret Service Agents per six hour shift, daily Four times a day a new shift of five agents goes on duty. That is 20 Secret Service Agents per day per property including Holidays, etc. Holiday pay is probably double.
Assume that each secret service agent earns about $90K on average. Five properties...... so far, at 20 agents per property means 100 agents per day or $9,000,0000 per year just for their salaries . That is if the Kerry don't buy any more properties. Of course, if they buy more properties they will also be included. We would also have to provide the Agents with
vehicles and cover the costs of repairs, gas, etc. We would have to pay for their meals, days off, paid vacations, and medical insurance coverage for each How on earth would Kerry pay for everyone to have Healthcare, two chickens in every pot and have us pay to protect his investments, all without raising our taxes?
It makes you wonder why anyone with his wealth, would take a salary of that of a U.S. Senator, or of a President?
Please pass the Mustard and if it is Heinz, check the label.....it was probably made in Mexico. I say keep Bush in the White House and let Kerry pay for his own houses.
Weapons Of Mass Deception, Iraq War costing up to $200 billions and more, over 1,000 US soldiers died honorably(for what?), Osama Bin Linden still missing, and I will not get my social security contributions due to Bush's tax break. Might as well spend my energies and $$$ to continue my fun hobby. I can't feel any safer except consciously put on a condom before entering the kitty.
Yeah that's grim, but I figure the taxpayers have already funded Bush the younger, so maybe we can call it even.
If I'm not mistaken, he made much or most of his non-inherited wealth by selling a baseball team whose worth was measurably enhanced by public funding of a stadium.
Of course, neither of our points are more than window-dressing disguising the real question: Which of the candidates will be the better fiscal steward? Bush has a faith-based (and nakedly base-boosting political) belief in the primacy of tax cuts as THE agent of economic stimulus. Tax cuts play a role (as do monetary policy, productivity growth, trade policy, regulatory policies and, simply, the good old business cycle.) The Oracle Greenspan LOVES tax cuts, but his enthusiasm for them pales in comparison to his passion for preparing to meet current and future fiscal demands.
Kerry cannot pay for all his programs (most notably health care) through his proposal to raise taxes on incomes over $200,000. He knows it.
Bush cannot pay for the new Medicare drug benefit (and untold years of war) through his faith-based tax policy. He knows it.
But presidential elections are not about being real. WE know that.
Two Republican presidents before Bush tempered their tax-cutting fervor by raising revenues (taxes) as the situation dictated. A third president, Clinton, was much less circumspect - he raised taxes up front.
And we haven't even BEGUN to talk about Social Security and Medicare. Haven't even begun.
But that will come - jarringly, but it will come. Meanwhile, I ain't focusing too much about these dudes' palaces and shit. Both families got 'em.
Kerry, has time and time again stated that his policies would not benefit him or the ultra rich. Maybe he thinks there is something more important than amassing wealth at the expense of the well-being of his country. His actions have demonstrated his convictions. He didn't hide out in the Texas Air National Guard to get out of going to Vietnam(like someone we know did), but went and fought for his country. When he came back he exercised his right to protest it as did thousands of other vets. I would say he more than earned that right. Supporters of the cowardly Bush have the audacity to criticize Kerry for exercising his rights.
In 1980, Reagan debated Carter and asked the American people if they were better off than they were 4 years ago. I'm not, and many aren't either. The middle class is under attack, they are taking our jobs from us, reducing our wages, eliminating our overtime, reducing healthcare coverage, taking our pensions, not to mention the illegitimate war in Iraq. Do we want 4 more years of this? If you are better off than you were 4 years ago, then by all means vote for Bush, but PLEASE don't base your vote on the cost of protecting Kerry's properties.
The cost of protecting Kerry's properties will pale in comparison to the cost for this country of having to endure another 4 years of Bush.
I've never voted for a Democrat in my life, if I didn't vote Independent then I have voted Republican. This time the choice is painfully obvious and I'll be happy to vote for my first Democrat, Kerry.
-- Modified on 10/17/2004 12:01:30 PM