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Cashing In - Obama’s Post-Presidency Bonanza |
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By
Stephen Lendman |
| The benefits of being a former US president are limitless. Most former
incumbents take full advantage. Obama is using his political celebrity to cash in hugely. He moved into a reported $5.3 million, 8,200-square foot luxury mansion, two miles from the White House. He spent weeks vacationing in Tahiti, including aboard a $300 million yacht. He and wife Michelle got a stunning $65 million book deal, ghost written for them. He’s already wealthy from earlier book deals. He earned $400,000 annually as US president, $200,000 each year in pension benefits - plus $150,000 a year for two-and-a-half years, then $96,000 annually for life, adjusted for inflation. Nice deal if you can get it. There’s potentially much more, including $400,000 for paid speeches to lots of corporations and groups willing to pay it. He’s getting this amount to keynote a September healthcare conference, organized by Wall Street firm Cantor Fitzgerald. Hillary was paid over $25 million in speaking fees since January 2014. Husband Bill cashed in the same way. So did former Wall Street-controlled Fed chairmen Alan Greenspan and Ben Bernanke. Political figures notoriously cash in big while in office and after leaving, Obama taking full advantage like many others. The Los Angeles Times called it “(t)acky but not corrupt.” The NYT said he “balances civic-minded(ness) with the lure of” big bucks. Concern for America’s poor and disadvantaged was never an Obama attribute. During his Chicago years, he supported ethnic cleansing gentrification. Real estate and other financials interests profited hugely at the expense of ordinary people. His disdain for populism continued as a state and US senator. He consistently promised one thing and delivered another - at the local, state and federal levels, mostly after becoming president. Now a private citizen in his mid-50s, he’s got lots of years to get super-rich - living the good life, anti-progressive in office and since leaving, unaccountable for war crimes in multiple theaters, along with waging war on freedom domestically. Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III." http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com. Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network. |