Obama Clearly is Spending Under $200 Million a Day for His Latest Vacation to India

Based on figures from a 1999 report by the GAO, Bill Clinton's trip to Africa cost $42.8 million dollars. He took 1,300 individuals (not including the Secret Service) and was gone 12 days. That works out to roughly $3.57 million a day. Based on this information, we can take some guesses at how much President Barack Obama's upcoming trip to India is going to cost US taxpayers.

First, Obama will only be traveling around Asia for 10 days (3 days in India, rest in Indonesia where he grew up, South Korea, and Japan), so let's lower the cost down to $35.7M. But he is taking over 3,000 people (including Secret Service), so let's guess on the lower side and just double the cost, to give us a price tag of $71.4M. Let's now adjust for inflation from 1999 to today- that will give us a price tag of about $91.07M.

It is reasonable to assume that the Taj Mahal Hotel, where Obama plans to stay, is considerably more expensive than wherever Clinton stayed in 1999, and it is also reasonable to assume that the cost of moving warships off the coast of India for protection and hiring people to knock down coconuts so they don't fall on the President's head are costs that Clinton did not incur. Plus, we know that President Obama and his wife and retinue have a taste for the finer things (see my post Barack Obama's Wagyu Steaks) that Bubba did not really flaunt. Obama will probably try to get in a round of golf while he is there or maybe take in a cricket match, so add those costs to the total too. I'm not an economist, I think it would be reasonable to put a price tag on this trip of $200 million.

So the White House is correct and the Republicans are wrong. It is not going to cost US taxpayers who are battling a recession $200 million dollars a day that we don't have to send the President on a globe-trotting trip with all his buddies to live it up in 5-star hotels. It will only cost us $200 million overall.

For fun, check out Trillion with a T: How to Spend $1,000,000,000,000.00.