Luxury travel for our elected elite

So Speaker Pelosi has appropriated $550 million to buy 8 new jets for "senior officials". These are the same senior officials who derided the Big 3 CEOs for having the gumption of flying their companies' private jets to the Hill for a dog and pony show.

Anyway- how much is $550 million? Doesn't seem like a lot- especially in the absurd economics of the Obama era where trillion is all the rage. Let's put it like this- $550 million buys EVERY member of Congress a $1000 round trip airline ticket EVERY DAY for one thousand days. And then some.

Where are they all going?

I've worked in lobbying, worked on the Hill- I know how the game is played. They make a call to some center in New Zealand about some study concerning the green frog and decide it is necessary to fly there and see the results themselves. We pay for the ticket and the hotel, they bring their spouse (who has to pay his/her own meals) and make a 7 day trip out of it. It is STANDARD.

In my day we took corporate jets. But now such gifts are illegal under the campaign finance rules. Congress grew accustomed to the joys of luxury travel and in response decided to buy its own planes.

But Madam, the masses are starving. They are unemployed. They have no jobs. And Madam Pelosi, turning to her aid before boarding her G5, retorts "let them eat cake".