Once again, the Gawker.com has shown, if you work for the man who talked about hope and change, you can have a lot of hope you?ll get a lot of change: 146 of President Barack Obama?s 270 staff members received an average raise of eight percent for the 2010-11 year. Gawker correctly observes that Americans suffer while the Obama class of 2012 rakes in the money, every cent of it taken from those suffering American taxpayers. Obama plays golf; his leftist myrmidons get rich. Americans pay for it.
But more disconcerting than the average eight-percent raise during a time when some Americans cant get raises is this little fact: The top 20 White House employees received increases, on average, of nearly 50 percent. Some nearly doubled their salaries.
Basic Figures
Gawker observes the obvious point about salary increases of an average eight-percent for a wrecking crew that is destroying the country:
That’s a much bigger raise than the average white-collar worker got. According to a survey conducted last year by the human resources consulting firm Mercer, most firms were projecting a 3% increase in base pay for executives. White House workers did nearly three times as well. Overall, it should be noted, the White House’s salary budget contracted slightly, from $38.8 million to $37.1 million, largely because the number of staffers fell. The average salary also dropped from $82,721, or 65% above the median household income, to $81,765 or 65% above the median household income.
How lucrative is working for Obama? Consider that the most recent report (which goes back to July 2010) features some eye-opening raises, such as special assistant to the president for economic policy Matthew Vogel’s $59,000, 82% raise to an annual salary of $130,500, or director of African American media Kevin Lewis’ $36,000, 86% pay hike.
Given that Obama billed himself as the post-racial President of healing and reconciliation, a director of African American media is rather a surprise. It would be an even bigger surprise to find out what, if anything, Lewis does for his paycheck of $78,000.
Two employees, Gawkers data show, received raises of 63 percent for salaries of $75,000 each. Another employee racked up a 53 percent raise to $95,000.
Denis McDonough, an assistant to the president and national security advisor, received a 17-percent raise from $147,500 to $172,200. Jonathan Samuels, Deputy Assistant for Legislative Affairs, was pulling down a measly $130,500 until he received a 21-percent raise to $158,500. Another assistant to Obama received the same raise.
Average raise for the highest paid Obama staff members: 45.75 percent.
Obamas Violates Another Pledge
Gawker notes that the massive increases by Obama broke yet another promise: i.e., that federal employees earning $100,000 would not get raises. As Gawker put it,
One of Obama’s first acts as president was to freeze the salaries of all White House officials earning more than $100,000 because during this period of economic emergency, families are tightening their belts, and so should Washington. Two years later, he extended that policy to all federal workers, using the same logic: Small businesses and families are tightening their belts. Their government should too.
The belts at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave werent tight for long. The chart shows that White House employees earning well more than $100,000 received massive raises that arent just unseemly given Obamas rhetoric of class warfare during a time of economic crisis. The raises far exceed what normal Americans receive even in good years, which is typically about 4 to 4.5 percent.
Some employees received the big raises, Gawker reports, because they climb[ed] the ladder and snag[ged] huge pay boosts.” That is, a new job with more responsibility means more money. But most of them didnt climb the ladder: Almost half of the raises doled out by the White House in the last year 59, or 40% of all raises weren’t accompanied by new job descriptions.
As well, few people double salaries when they change jobs, even when climbing the employment ladder.
The growing gap between the salary of an average American and that of a functionary for President Obama is nothing new. According to Gawker, the same thing happened last time around for raises:
The last time we checked in on White House salaries, we found that an astonishing 75% of continuing staffers got raises from 2009 to 2010 a huge number given the fact that, according to compensation experts, most companies had skipped routine raises that year in reaction to the economic crisis that the White House was busy failing to solve.
Bottom line: Obama lied again. His staff members are not feeling the same pain as middle Americans.
