White House Staff

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   logic,commonsenseposted 14 years ago

   According to the White House, there are 469 people on staff and their total wages, not including benefits is 39 million dollars!  What the hell does the White House need 469 people on staff for?
   Top salary is 172,000 and there are quite a few at that number.  It's time to quit treating the office of president as royalty and get back to reality.  No matter who is in the office!
   Like someone else just noted.  WTF!

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   1. 61

      Stump Parrishposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      The whitehouse is a normal government department it appears. Bloated and stafed by twice as many over paid people than required. Every government department in every level of government has learned the art of stealing from the tax payers for their comfort and pleasure. From school districts to Homeland security to the war on drugs, we are apying hundreds of thousands of people to twiddle their damned thimbs and collect a pension for doing so. How large is the FDA, What good does it do to pay all of these people when the FDA lacks the athority to order a recall of tainted and dangerous food. They have to negociate with the company to get them to issue a voluntary recall to protecty their image.

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   2. 61

      Evan G Rogersposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      "But government is good! They help us not die!"

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   3. 68

      Flightkeeperposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      I think Barry the Great Reagan Admirer should start his SOTU by saying that he is cutting staff at 50%.  Then we can start believing him when he says he's concerned about the deficit.

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      Greek Oneposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Do you know how hard and expensive it is to get certain types of stains off an intern's dress?

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2. 0

   PrettyPantherposted 14 years ago

   I have a better idea.  How about all federal and state workers who voted for the "supposed" Republican policy of less government and more fiscal responsibility stand up for what is right and quit their overpaid, deficit-producing jobs and go to work for the private sector?  I'm sure it will be easy for them to make the transition from blood-sucking parasite living off the government teat to noble business owner or corporate drone.  I'm sure they will welcome the opportunity to live their ideals!
   
   Think how much money this would save!

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      PrettyPantherposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Oh, come on now!  Where are all the conservatives, anarchists, libertarians, and general, all-purpose government-worker-bashing, small-government-worshipping independents?  This would save MUCH more money than cutting White House staff by 50%! And it would be completely voluntary! I thought y'all would be all over this idea!

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      1. 57

         C.J. Wrightposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         I would never begrudge the President his staff. However, the first lady is a different story. The last three have had an average of 20 staffers and cost 1.5 million per year. That I have huge problem with.

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            PrettyPantherposted 14 years agoin reply to this

            I can understand that, but it's a mere pittance compared to government waste in the defense department, for example.

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            1. 57

               C.J. Wrightposted 14 years agoin reply to this

               There is waste in all departments. The defense budget is always going to be a problem. It's one of the few departments specifically mentioned in the Constitution. It's one of the few legitimate reasons to tax.
               
               The size of the Defense budget is directly tied to both parties ideas on foriegn policy. If we weren't so intent in poking our noses into other nations business, we wouldn't need such a huge budget.

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                  PrettyPantherposted 14 years agoin reply to this

                  I agree with most of what you say here; I just find it hard to take seriously a person who focuses on relatively minor expenses while bemoaning a deficit that soared while we pursued unnecessary wars while simultaneously cutting taxes.

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                  1. 59

                     logic,commonsenseposted 14 years agoin reply to this

                     A billion dollars starts with one penny.
                     Part of the problem with the deficit is that people only look at the big money.  Sure we need to deal with that, but we can only fix the problem for good if we take a detailed look at what we are spending and why we are spending it regardless of the amount.  Blowing off a million here or a million there only exacerbates the problem.  For myself, I could go a long way on a million!

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                  2. 57

                     C.J. Wrightposted 14 years agoin reply to this

                     you mean soaring and persuing...the wars are still going on, the defict is still increasing. Why limit the scope to the "BIG" items? With defense there is so much that we CAN'T and DON'T know. That's not the case with the smaller items. Take care of the pennies and the dollars take care of themselves. If you can't be responsible with a little, you certainly can't be responsible whith a lot...is any of this sounding familiar? It's plain old common sense. We have to drop the partisan bickering and stop the spending. Cutting taxes was a bad idea then. It's not such a bad idea now, however at some point cutting spending isn't going to be enough. We have to get the debt down. We have to get rid of defict spending.

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         2. 59

            logic,commonsenseposted 14 years agoin reply to this

            But 469 people on staff?  C'mon!

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            1. 57

               C.J. Wrightposted 14 years agoin reply to this

               It does seem a bit much doesn't it....

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      2. 59

         William R. Wilsonposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         I'm with you on this, PP.  I would fully support all state and federal employees voluntarily stepping down from their overpaid, unnecessary jobs.

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