Obama's expensive India trip...

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waggy

No Lifer
Dec 14, 2000
68,143
10
81
lol i love how everyone gets in a huff over fox. even calling for the goverment to do something about it. yeah smart move you morons.

you think that once the goverment starts they are only going to go after fox? sure right now msnbc/cnn etc are all pro-goverment. that will change in time. so then its ok for the goverment to go after them? then what?

fuck you people are so blinded by hatred you can't see straight.

does fox lie? yes. does cnn and msnbc? yes they do.



I do think the news channels (ALL OF THEM) need to set off the opionon shows better. they try to make the news shows and the opionion show the same. sometimes its hard to tell them apart.

and fuck me. my arthritis is killing me so im not fixing spelling or any errors today so fuck you too.
 

IBMer

Golden Member
Jul 7, 2000
1,137
0
76
lol i love how everyone gets in a huff over fox. even calling for the goverment to do something about it. yeah smart move you morons.

you think that once the goverment starts they are only going to go after fox? sure right now msnbc/cnn etc are all pro-goverment. that will change in time. so then its ok for the goverment to go after them? then what?

fuck you people are so blinded by hatred you can't see straight.

does fox lie? yes. does cnn and msnbc? yes they do.



I do think the news channels (ALL OF THEM) need to set off the opionon shows better. they try to make the news shows and the opionion show the same. sometimes its hard to tell them apart.

and fuck me. my arthritis is killing me so im not fixing spelling or any errors today so fuck you too.

You apparently can't read. I clearly stated all "News" channels. That still is not an excuse for Fox.
 

nobodyknows

Diamond Member
Sep 28, 2008
5,474
0
0
So Fox reports the facts (that the initial figures are now debunked) as they are unravelled, and some how Fox news is dishonest about it? WTF?

If FOX News had reported the facts in the FIRST place we wouldn't be having this disscussion.
 

Josh

Lifer
Mar 20, 2000
10,917
0
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I'm sure already posted but in case no one reading..


It began with an anonymous source quoted in an Indian press report -- that President Obama's overseas trip would cost $200 million a day and total about $2 billion. But, as CNN's Anderson Cooper reports, the figures are pure myth.
 

trenchfoot

Lifer
Aug 5, 2000
14,898
7,426
136
A perfect example of how the media is used to form lynching parties. Yes, Fox, yes Limbaugh, yes Coulter, yes, Malkin, yes Beck and on and on and on....we saw how your coordinated attack worked its magic.

We also saw how you left all of that dangling in the breeze until you absolutely had to retract your "rumors-as-if-they-were-fact" in about the same way you treat used toilet paper......but do you really?

Because I saw it on the internet that all Fox employees have to eat their used toilet paper so as not to leave any evidence of their slime-balling.
 

werepossum

Elite Member
Jul 10, 2006
29,873
463
126
This figure comes from an anonymous source in the India government and has been widely reported in the Indian media. The Indian media has also been widely decrying this visit as a jobs program for American workers (which hopefully is true.) This may well be an attempt to rouse the Indian public and make it politically difficult for the Indian government to make any concessions to Obama in removing trade barriers.
 

PJABBER

Diamond Member
Feb 8, 2001
4,822
0
0

Someone here can go through the exercise of calculating the cost of each element of this "show the flag" PR trip. All you have to do is identify all of the ships, planes, staff salaries, support element salaries, unique construction projects (tunnel?), coconut pickers, POL, carbon credits, food and alcohol, opportunity costs, etc. to come to a more reasonable figure.

My quess is that for three days worth of all the above the total cost will run close to $200 million.

Is the investment worth it?

Does this trip build relationships that were not there before or firm up some? Does it have a negative effect - how do the people and the powers that be THERE look at the imperial Presidency coming to visit? How is it playing in THEIR press? After all, it does seem that Obama is more popular in foreign countries than here at home.

I have organized and gone on a number of business and economic development trips. Some were worth it, others not so much. The higher the PR element, meaning the more coverage in the press, the less likely it was that anything of note was accomplished.

In any case, a President, or a CEO, visits to lock up the preliminary, pre-negotiated agreements - usually NOT to engage in direct negotiation. What is Obama locking up? What trade and defense agreements is he going to announce in the course of the trip? If none of note, he wasted his time and our money. If there is something substantial, then the trip might be worth it.

So far, despite all of the noise for the past couple of years, the Obama Administration has delivered very little of note, not much that we can point to and say we got something out of the investment.

But the Obamas and their entourage can sure look back and say they had a ball at the taxpayers' expense.
 

IBMer

Golden Member
Jul 7, 2000
1,137
0
76
My quess is that for three days worth of all the above the total cost will run close to $200 million.

Is the investment worth it?

So for Bush it was 5.4 million a day and suddenly for Obama its 66 million a day...
 

PJABBER

Diamond Member
Feb 8, 2001
4,822
0
0
So for Bush it was 5.4 million a day and suddenly for Obama its 66 million a day...

Like I said, someone with more time than I should calculate all of the associated costs - how much does it cost to run a carrier battle group each day, how much does it cost to rent out the entire 600 rooms of his hotel each day, how much are the salaries of the 3,000 in his royal entourage per day (and I don't see how they come up with that number as I don't know that there are that many in the entire White House staff plus their families! Likely the number includes all of the military that are diverted to this mission.)

I don't mind spending $200 million on a trip that ends a war or stops one from happening, on a trip that results in a hundred billion in new trade or opens up a new market, on a trip that results in a new ally or stops a hostile alliance from forming.

The problem is, I believe this is nothing more than an exotic vacation for Obama and his family, a chance to visit interesting places on the taxpayers' dime. I mean the guy looks stressed after the elections. I guess he needed to do more than hit the golf course this time.
 
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blackangst1

Lifer
Feb 23, 2005
22,902
2,359
126
Only after the same network hosted several of their regulars saying over and over and over again, NOT THEIR OPINION, but that this was fact.

Please stop with the "opinion" dodge. :rolleyes:

It's not about anyone's opinion, it's about Fox eagerly propagating false, unverified and easily disproven bullshit as facts.

Got that?

What I got was, the original $200 million figure was gotten from an Indian news source, and a few talking heads ran with it. Happens all the time. News shows and talking heads shows find a headline from another country and begin talking about it. AFAIK the talking head shows havent kept talking about since the figure was disproven by the White House. But I dunno, coz I dont watch them. Timelines and perspective are important. But the bottom line is, this figure wasnt reported by Fox's news division, but rather by a couple opinion shows.

But whatever.
 

IBMer

Golden Member
Jul 7, 2000
1,137
0
76
What I got was, the original $200 million figure was gotten from an Indian news source, and a few talking heads ran with it. Happens all the time. News shows and talking heads shows find a headline from another country and begin talking about it. AFAIK the talking head shows havent kept talking about since the figure was disproven by the White House. But I dunno, coz I dont watch them. Timelines and perspective are important. But the bottom line is, this figure wasnt reported by Fox's news division, but rather by a couple opinion shows.

But whatever.

And this kind of crap doesn't belong on any network with the word News in it at all. If it isn't proven, then it isn't news, its gossip.
 

DominionSeraph

Diamond Member
Jul 22, 2009
8,386
31
91
Like I said, someone with more time than I should calculate all of the associated costs - how much does it cost to run a carrier battle group each day

That's an expense that you pay regardless.

I'm ex-Navy. I got fed and paid the same regardless of whether I was surfing the 'net 9 hours a day up in Shop 1 because there was nothing to do while Barry was getting its mast refurbished; smoking out on the smoke deck; shooting trash in the water with a .50 cal; surfing the 'net for 9 hours a day in my shop at NAVCOMTELSTA Sicily because my system had a 99.9% uptime; helping out with network administration because some idiot thought clueless RM's should be running that rather than ET's; idly setting up a bit error rate tester for the STA's microwave shot because I thought it silly it had no front panel indications; guarding C-130's loaded with SEAL equipment and U2 spyplanes as a member of the Auxiliary Security Force; or whatever.

Operational tempo has some additional expenses over idle time, but the armed forces train at operational tempo.
 

Throckmorton

Lifer
Aug 23, 2007
16,829
3
0
That's an expense that you pay regardless.

I'm ex-Navy. I got fed and paid the same regardless of whether I was surfing the 'net 9 hours a day up in Shop 1 because there was nothing to do while Barry was getting its mast refurbished; smoking out on the smoke deck; shooting trash in the water with a .50 cal; surfing the 'net for 9 hours a day in my shop at NAVCOMTELSTA Sicily because my system had a 99.9% uptime; helping out with network administration because some idiot thought clueless RM's should be running that rather than ET's; idly setting up a bit error rate tester for the STA's microwave shot because I thought it silly it had no front panel indications; guarding C-130's loaded with SEAL equipment and U2 spyplanes as a member of the Auxiliary Security Force; or whatever.

Operational tempo has some additional expenses over idle time, but the armed forces train at operational tempo.

Why don't people understand this intuitively? Do they really envision the Navy not getting paid unless they go to India?
 
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PJABBER

Diamond Member
Feb 8, 2001
4,822
0
0
Why don't people understand this intuitively? Do they really envision the Navy not getting paid unless they go to India?

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werepossum

Elite Member
Jul 10, 2006
29,873
463
126
Why don't people understand this intuitively? Do they really envision the Navy not getting paid unless they go to India?

I suspect that you'd have to add all the Indian costs as well to approach $200 million per day. Probably to approach $200 million for the whole trip.

Of course, a nice round number like $200 million is obviously pulled from someone's ass anyway. If Bush spent $5.2 million a day on 1,300 people in Africa, then Obama is probably spending $15 to $20 million a day for his 3,000 people in India, even including the extra security. It's interesting though either way, just to get these glimpses into how much government actually spends. I'd like to know how many war ships and war planes are going - although the source actually said "diverted", which could mean merely a few hundred miles from their normal patrol to be able to lend a hand just in case. That was probably the case for Bush's African trip as well, as India's security and political stability has to be an order of magnitude higher than any African nation's.
 

raildogg

Lifer
Aug 24, 2004
12,892
572
126
Let the man travel like other Presidents before him traveled. What is the big deal? Hasn't any other President gone on a 4-nation tour of Asia before?

Is this such a controversy because of an Indian news source got some of the figures wrong?

Focus on the big picture like trying to improve relations instead of constantly trying to bring Obama down for these stupid reasons.
 

manimal

Lifer
Mar 30, 2007
13,559
8
0
Someone here can go through the exercise of calculating the cost of each element of this "show the flag" PR trip. All you have to do is identify all of the ships, planes, staff salaries, support element salaries, unique construction projects (tunnel?), coconut pickers, POL, carbon credits, food and alcohol, opportunity costs, etc. to come to a more reasonable figure.

My quess is that for three days worth of all the above the total cost will run close to $200 million.

Is the investment worth it?

Does this trip build relationships that were not there before or firm up some? Does it have a negative effect - how do the people and the powers that be THERE look at the imperial Presidency coming to visit? How is it playing in THEIR press? After all, it does seem that Obama is more popular in foreign countries than here at home.

I have organized and gone on a number of business and economic development trips. Some were worth it, others not so much. The higher the PR element, meaning the more coverage in the press, the less likely it was that anything of note was accomplished.

In any case, a President, or a CEO, visits to lock up the preliminary, pre-negotiated agreements - usually NOT to engage in direct negotiation. What is Obama locking up? What trade and defense agreements is he going to announce in the course of the trip? If none of note, he wasted his time and our money. If there is something substantial, then the trip might be worth it.

So far, despite all of the noise for the past couple of years, the Obama Administration has delivered very little of note, not much that we can point to and say we got something out of the investment.

But the Obamas and their entourage can sure look back and say they had a ball at the taxpayers' expense.

Is the investment worth it? The entourage heading over as it is includes many businessmen like the Boeing executives there to finish the deal for 8 billion in exports over the next 20 years.. Is that good enough for you?

I am not surprised you would parrot out these false pretenses. Did you have similar outrage when Bush went to the middle east to kiss the saudi prince? How much did that trip cost? I for a while tried to give you the benefit of the doubt but clearly you have some alternate agenda....either your a misguided businessman who parrots the false pretense of uncertainty or you are actually payed to do this.....