At least that' the story the right wingers are pushing today. There is only one little problem with the story. It's a lie. A lie designed to smear our president.
The story is all over the web today, with hundreds of right wingers expressing their outrage over Obama wasting so much money during a recession. All the stories lead back to a single news source. NDTV. The money quote is this:
"The huge amount of around $200 million would be spent on security, stay and other aspects of the Presidential visit," a top official of the Maharashtra Government privy to the arrangements for the high-profile visit said.
About 3,000 people including Secret Service agents, US government officials and journalists would accompany the President. Several officials from the White House and US security agencies are already here for the past one week with helicopters, a ship and high-end security instruments.
"Except for personnel providing immediate security to the President, the US officials may not be allowed to carry weapons. The state police is competent to take care of the security measures and they would be piloting the Presidential convoy," the official said on condition of anonymity."
The figure comes from an anonymous Indian government source. No links to any financial or government documents.
So how do I know it's a lie. Think about it. Or better yet do some math. If the American government is spending $200 million a day to take care of 3,000 Americans, that works out to over $66,000 per person. I'm guessing we could find food and lodging for any and everyone going on the trip for less than that. Especially in India. There is no way this trip is costing anywhere near $200 million a day.
Personally, I think the unnamed government official mixed up his Rupees (worth about 2.2 cents) and his dollars, but of course that would make too much sense. What do you think?
Update: A couple of you have figured out that $200 million Rupees equals about $4.5 million dollars. It's nice to know that progressives can actually do math.