After hearing the $200 million figure bandied about by reasonable sources as the cost per day for Obama’s junket to India and a discussion with Himself (who is my reality check), I decided to do a little math and see what would happen if I translated dollars to Indian rupees. Turns out that an Indian rupee is .022558 to 1 dollar. That takes the $200 million figure to about $4,511,600/day which is much more in line with reality.
Still, over the course of either a three or ten day trip (sources vary), the total cost for the trip is either: $13,534,800 or $45,116,000 which still lands this whole thing into ‘let them eat cake’ territory, much as Michelle’s trip to Spain did due to buying out entire luxury hotels and such. He’s also taking the kids, which should be educational for them but kind of pulls this from a business trip to an academic conference/vacation kind of trip.
I don’t think either figure (mine or the others) accounts for the lost revenue and problems in the city of Mumbai since they are going to have their major thoroughfares closed and will not have access to parts of their city (much like Obama’s trips to Los Angeles). I don’t think that this will do much to endear him (or the U.S.) to the regular folks in Mumbai who are going to have to deal with traffic delays, re-routes, and closed businesses for the duration of Obama’s stay there.
I just wonder if he’s going to bow to the Indian Prime Minister and President like he’s bowed to just about everyone else.
Midwest Chick's Place 
Leave a Reply to Anonymous Cancel reply