[whswhs]

Originally Posted by Anaraxes

There was a book going into the costs for maintaining the White House during Obama's Presidency. (Let's avoid politics, please; this is just an example.) It ran about $1.4 billion per year, or twice the amount declared as unbelievable. Per that book:

• President’s salary and allowance: $450,000
• White House building operating expenses: $14,658,000
• White House Grounds: $6,057,000
• Vacations: $20,000,000
• Health care for the first family, including traveling medical staff and equipment: $7,000,000
• Campaign expenses not reimbursed to government: $311,000,000
• White House staff: $7,985,420
• Office of Administration budget: $14,481,000
• Special missions including White House Communications Agency: $161,252,000
• Military salary costs: $153,441,360
• Salary costs for presidential airlift squadron: $75,000,000
• Presidential plane fleet: $44,000,000
• Presidential helicopter fleet: $300,000,000
• Ground transportation: $2,200,000
• Transportation total: $346,200,000
• Secret Service: $259,152,884

Transportation total seems to include planes, helicopters, and ground transport, but not military salaries or presidential airlift squadron salaries, which is odd; in any case it shouldn't be counted twice.

The campaign expenses don't seem to be part of cost of living, and I'm doubtful about the special missions. If you exclude them you have just over $900 million, it looks like.