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Jim McDermottJanuary 17, 2009

On Saturday in DC I find myself being bombarded with statistics.  How many people will be here, how many police, how much it’s costing.  Here’s a first glance, with due nod to Harper’s Index. 

$0 – Official cost of a ticket to attend the Swearing In of Barack Obama as President of the United States.

$750 – Cost of a ticket at greatseats.com to stand on the Mall at the Swearing In. 

$2975 – Cost of a ticket on StubHub.com to attend the Illinois Inaugural Ball. 

 

$3 – Cost for an Obama Inauguration commemorative denim pencil.

$10 – Cost for 3 "Obama, 44th President" Winter Caps sold today on the streets of DC.

$28 -- Cost of Obama/Biden navy T-shirt on barackobama.com. 

Undisclosed -- Amount the Smithsonian Institute paid for Obama HOPE painting by Shepard Fairey (above).

$2.3 million -- What the New York Times Co. has made so far on Obama Commemorative Merchandise.

$45 million – Estimated total cost of the Obama Inauguration

$1.6 billion -- Estimated total money spent by all candidates on the Presidential Election of 2008.

$590 billion -- Total cost of war in Iraq to date.

$590.1 billion – Total cost of war in Iraq one hour from now.

$?? trillion -- Cost of the financial bailout

 

10000 – Estimated Number of Buses expected in Washington on Inauguration Day

40000 – Estimated number of police working the Inauguration.

240000 – Number of tickets to the swearing in.

4 million – Estimated number of people expected to attend the Inauguration.

5 billion  – Number of people estimated by Huffington Post who might watch the Inauguration. 

6.7 billion – Total population of the world. 

 

 

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15 years 4 months ago
Our blessings are for the President-elect, his family, our nation and our out-going President. It does seem ironic that many people who criticized the expenses for the inauguration of the President as extravagant in 2001 & 2005 are unusually quiet in their criticism this year even though the expenses far exceed those of any time in our nation's history. Critics maintained that it was not right to spend so much money when people were poor in America. Are there no more poor people in America? If so, not only did President Bush keep us safe from another terrorist attack, but he wiped out poverty. Thank you President Bush!

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