Hey Bam, You Want To Save Taxpayers Money? Try This!

Years ago, I heard a stand-up comedian regale the audience with comic-laced anecdotes about how frugal his family was while growing up.

“We’d take our summer vacations at a place along the highway called ‘rest stop,’” he quipped. When the laughter died down, he would add, “Oh you’ve been there too?”

“One year we changed it up a bit and camped out at gas, food and lodging.”

I dredge up this example of personal economy because earlier this week it was announced that the President is going to return 5 percent of his salary to the U.S. Treasury, as federal workers are being furloughed as part of sequestration.

So by my estimates, that would come to roughly a $20,000 giveback, or enough to buy a 2013 Mazda.

An honorable act to be sure, but one done more for effect than affect for the taxpayers.

So allow me to make a suggestion.

How about cutting down on vacation time for the First Family or at least stay in less expensive hotels? Whenever the chief executive and the First Lady embark on their pilgrimages to Hawaii or Martha’s Vineyard, guess who foots the bill when they fire up Air Force One and other accompanying aircraft not to mention the hordes of Secret Service personnel?

Case in point.  

In 2011 the First Lady took 42 vacation days at a total cost of $10 million. According to Judicial Watch, a group that investigates government waste and corruption, that span of leisure included a $375,000 break in Spain, and four days in Aspen where FLOTUS spent in excess of $2,000 a night at one of the area’s posh hotels.

Remember the foray to Martha’s Vineyard?

The nine-day stay there at the Heron Farm property came at a cost of $50K a week. That alone is two and a half times more than the proposed salary giveback.

As he blamed the sequester for canceling the White House tours which would have cost about $2 million per year, it was unveiled that the Christmas vacation for the Obama in Hawaii (incidentally the fourth one taken there in four years) cost about $4 million. Adding to that was the fact that the FLOTUS took a separate flight from her husband to the island paradise, which all told ran an additional $3.2 million.

Now far be it from me to suggest that those in the Oval Office don’t deserve to get time off. Nor am I suggesting that they encamp at Rest Stop or Gas Food and Lodging.

I’m told Southwest Airlines has some great deals though.