Comments on: How Ex-Presidents and Prime Ministers Make their Money

By: Val

Val — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 20:38:54 +0000

I read that when the Presidential pension was established with Harry Truman in mind, Hoover also took advantage of the pension. Not because he needed it, he just didn’t want Truman to be embarrassed for being broke. Kinda classy, when you think about it. It’s hard to imagine today’s politicians doing something just to save another fellow embarrassment.

ReCaptcha: breathe Episcopal. Is that a command?

By: Judi

Judi — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 13:16:41 +0000

What we pay our leaders of the greatest nation in the free world is pitiful. I just don’t get it when I see celebreties or sportsman getting 25 mill+ contracts for one year or one movie. Or someone getting the $400,000.00, that our President makes in one year, for one episode of a TV show.

By: juan

juan — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 18:06:44 +0000

um, i think if presidents paid white house utility bills and jet fuel costs whenever they flew somewhere, they’d blow their 400K rather quickly, sue.

By: What_About_the_FIRST_BUSH?

What_About_the_FIRST_BUSH? — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 03:11:04 +0000

Doesn’t #41 still work for a KUWAITI Oil Co?
C’mon, show some freakin guts.

By: WrapAroundSam

WrapAroundSam — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 19:01:46 +0000

I’ve read Jimmy Carter’s historical and he’d starve to death being an author of historical novels…IMO he needs to stick to peanuts….

By: will

will — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 18:13:32 +0000

I’m a die hard Republican but I do believe that if our president is in financial trouble because of his time in office (directly related not because he swindled it on bad investments or hookers) we should take care of them. I’m sure that this isn’t a problem anymore but for past presidents there is no reason we shouldn’t pony up some dough to help them out. I for one don’t want the president worrying about his or her finances, this would just bring us back to where there vetoing with there wallet and not the interest of the U.S. in mind. As far as there not being good choices this year for president I think we have two good choices. If they turn out to be bad choices Congres will make sure that there actions don’t hurt us to bad. Or did we all forget that congress was there since the media made it sound like Bush just made it all up as he went.

By: Tennyson Williams

Tennyson Williams — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 16:53:36 +0000

It just goes to show that persistence and desire lead to great things. Even those who are wealthy have to stay on top of their own game. You can’t really allow yourself to ever get too comfortable.

By: Rodney Ballard

Rodney Ballard — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 15:00:06 +0000

I sure wish we had a Thomas Jefferson, a Harry Truman or even a Dwight Eisenhower we could vote for this coming election. As it is we really have no good choices. Just my personal opinion.

By: Hank

Hank — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 14:41:01 +0000

The retirement benefits received by former Presidents include a pension, Secret Service protection, and reimbursements for staff, travel, mail, and office expenses. The Presidential pension is not a fixed amount, rather it matches the current salary of Cabinet members (or Executive Level I personnel), which is $191,300/year as of March, 2008.

By: sue

sue — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 04:03:59 +0000

i don’t know about completely free- i believe they have to pay the utilities/jet fuel costs, food costs (even for those stupid banquets), decorating fees, etc. but i certainly don’t think 400,000 a year is anything to sneeze at. that’s a lot more than i live off of a year. lol
it’s kind of a shock that less than a hundred years ago they set up some kind of pension plan for the ex-presidents. i had always just assumed they were taken care of out of common courtesy as some kind of national “treasure” of some sort.