Obama's Entourage: 40 Planes to India, 45 Cars, 900 Hotel Rooms

[??????????]

I actually think the actual cost is more towards $500 million per day, and since you don't know the actual cost, you can't refudiate me.

One billion dollars................

[Holmes]

I actually think the actual cost is more towards $500 million per day, and since you don't know the actual cost, you can't refudiate me.

One billion dollars................

He might as well be spending a kajillion bajillion dollars!

[J. J.]

Okay, Obama is the President and he is going into an area where there are more people would like to kill anyone who is the President.  He also might need to communicate or return quickly, should there be a terrorist attack.

I let them spend money trying to protect him.  I don''t expect Obama to say in a Motel 6 with a cell phone.

[Swing low, sweet chariot. Comin' for to carry me home.]

then, what is actually price tag, $190M/day?  and if you don't know the actual cost, then how can you refute the $200M/day?

Think about that logic for a minute. If you don't know the number, you can make it up, and the burden of proof is on the other person to say you aren't right. Ridiculous.

The correct answer: we don't know how much it costs. Taking a made-up number and criticizing the President on that basis is bearing false witness.

Dude, a false witness is someone who knowingly spreads a falsehood.  But unless you can justify giving a more accurate cost estimate of the following, you’re really not in a position to argue the point.  

How much does it cost the US taxpayers per day for 34 warships and personnel, including an carrier strike group (CSG)?  34 ships is 12% of Navy’s active fleet.  And the 2010 budget for the Navy is $500M/day ($180B FY2010/365 days/year), so assuming all costs averaging the same, that’s $60M/day just in naval costs.  And considering the daily cost of a CSG is much much higher than the average cost, that could easily be $100M/day in Navy services.

Obviously, Obama’s trip is NOT costing an ADDITIONAL $200M/day (since most of that money would be spent doing normal operations), but it is not out of the question that the trip’s costs (additional + normal operation) is eating up $200M/day in resources.

---

My Dad's a smart and successful guy (electrical engineer by training, then successful small businessman) who has the character flaw of trusting the Wall St. Journal's editorial page.

It seems that your dad and I have a lot in common, aside from the WSJ and his son.  

[Swing low, sweet chariot. Comin' for to carry me home.]

the Pentagon is denying 34 ships, 10% of the Navy, will be used.

b33, you now have an argument for Thanksgiving dinner.  

[opebo]

the Pentagon is denying 34 ships, 10% of the Navy, will be used.

The navy has 340 ships?   Good lord, no wonder the country's wrecked.

[Meeker]

Yeah, pretty much this entire story turns out to have been made up: http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_upshot/20101105/el_yblog_upshot/citing-shady-numbers-republicans-take-aim-at-the-cost-of-obamas-trip-to-india

[Marokai Backbeat]

Yeah, pretty much this entire story turns out to have been made up: http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_upshot/20101105/el_yblog_upshot/citing-shady-numbers-republicans-take-aim-at-the-cost-of-obamas-trip-to-india

And the cycle repeats itself. Though thankfully it appears it was debunked quicker than usual, I doubt the amount of people hearing the correction will be but a fraction of those who heard about the initial allegations.

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[dead0man]

How much does it cost the US taxpayers per day for 34 warships and personnel, including an carrier strike group (CSG)?  34 ships is 12% of Navy’s active fleet.  And the 2010 budget for the Navy is $500M/day ($180B FY2010/365 days/year), so assuming all costs averaging the same, that’s $60M/day just in naval costs.  And considering the daily cost of a CSG is much much higher than the average cost, that could easily be $100M/day in Navy services.

And all those things would have to be paid for whether the Group was hanging around India "protecting the President" or cruising across the Indian Ocean or sitting in a dock in San Diego.

then, what is actually price tag, $190M/day?  and if you don't know the actual cost, then how can you refute the $200M/day?

As others have pointed out, this is just nuts.

[King]

lol @ people believing the $200 million dollar a day figure.  We could probably just buy India and make it the 51st state at just $150 million a day

As opebo pointed out, the outrage here should be about the Navy owning 340 freakin' ships.

[dead0man]

Depending on one defines an active ship, there are between 238 and 436 ships in the US Navy.  They are in the process of scaling back.  They'd like to settle on a total of 313, but there is only funding to maintain a little over 200. 

In comparison the Royal Navy has 241 (most of which are landing craft).  The PRC's Navy has 1157 (of which a third are landing craft). OUTRAGEOUS!

Just for fun, the USAF has 10.

[patrick1]

Depending on one defines an active ship, there are between 238 and 436 ships in the US Navy.  They are in the process of scaling back.  They'd like to settle on a total of 313, but there is only funding to maintain a little over 200. 

In comparison the Royal Navy has 241 (most of which are landing craft).  The PRC's Navy has 1157 (of which a third are landing craft). OUTRAGEOUS!

Just for fun, the USAF has 10.

Dead0, not sure if it is intentional but those numbers are really misleading.  The US doesnt even count landing craft.  A better metric is gross tonnage. Which the US has a larger Navy than the next 10 or so combined.

[dead0man]

Of course.  I was just pointing out, maybe with a little too much subtlety, that numbers of ships is a pretty stupid metric to use when whinging about how big the Navy is.  The US Navy's budget is blah blah bigger than the next blah blah Navies as well.

(I'm not  mocking, I'm just too lazy to look up the specific numbers)

[Badger]

As usual, pointless fake outage.

Some deals, whether in business or diplomacy is big enough they need to be done in person for appearance, regardless of whether they "can" be done by an internet link. A $10 billion international trade deal falls in this catagory.

This isn't an Obama defense; I'd say the same thing if Bush or McCain went to India to cut this deal. Critics of this trip need to quit being silly Luddites.