the whining here about religion being included in the inauguration

[MADem]

204. That's "fake accounting," though. You're only reading one side of the ledger.

There is, in many cases, no "actual expense." Example--military personnel.

Every command in the greater DC area is ordered to fork over a bunch of people. These people are on salary. Depending on the size of your installation or unit, you could be throwing five at them or a hundred or more. These people, the ones who line the parades, do some marching, direct people to their seats, etc., have to go off and work for the Inaugural Committee, but there's no "extra money" that is paid out to them. They're local--they just go to a different place for their job in the weeks ahead of the Inauguration, and they rehearse and practice. A value is assigned to their contribution--but that money would have been spent ANYWAY, even if there was no Inauguration.

What happens to the work they would have been doing had they not been called away? Some other poor bastard does it--instead of coming in at eight and leaving at four, people come in earlier, leave later, work through lunch, and take work home. They don't get paid "extra." They're on salary too--they just work a little harder for a few weeks. Jobs that aren't critical get gundecked or shitcanned.

The Secret Service knows to budget for the Inauguration--it's a fixed expense, it occurs every four years, it's part of their submission to Congress. It isn't an "extraordinary expense." It's a recurring one. Besides, those guys are on salary, too---and how hard they work depends entirely on their principals. Dealing with a George Bush, who went to bed early and didn't like to get out and see the country or press the flesh, they had it easy. With a Clinton -- or even worse, the Gores (who used to run all over DC in parkas in the winter) they had their work cut out for them. But they cut their cloth according to the measure, and the measure varies with the principal they are protecting.

And if sixteen million visitors can generate almost six BILLION in revenue in a year just for the District...well, do the math. A million people came, saw, stayed, ate, and spent.

We know full well that people stayed in hotels (which were marked UP hundreds of dollars per room, with the attendant tax increases) in MD and VA as well-- and ate in MD/VA restaurants, and paid meal taxes--so a lot of that crying is BS, too--they get the money, they just get it on the back end in tax revenues.

The whole "outrageous expense" thing is just a canard.

The swearing in of SCOTUS doesn't attract a million people paying hotel taxes, sales taxes, airport taxes, meal taxes, etc. to DC either. The Inauguration is a four year revenue boost for the district....rather like the NH primary is a big boost for that state every four years, and the Iowa Caucuses bring big money to that state as well.

And the parties? They are donor funded through rich bums kicking in, sponsorships, and ticket sales. The government doesn't pay a red cent towards those.