For a guy whose supposed to be all about the common man — Barack Obama sure has a lot of millionaires in his senior staff. Rahm Emmanuel, David Axelrod, Valerie Jarret are all from Chicago and they all have assets equal or greater than a million dollars. They are all from big business or industries in the Chicago area which tends to pay top level employees better than most states. Bush’s staff was making much less since most of them were from places like Arkansas and Texas where top-level businessman don’t make as much. Bush was owner of the Texas Ranger for awhile and came from a wealthy family, so he wasn’t exactly short on money either.

Obama’s cabinet seems to have members who are making lower salaries. Most of them tend to be former senators, governors and others who have spent most of their careers working in the lower-paying public sector. Obama himself is no stranger to money, he went from making $250,000 grand a year and then in 2005 started making millions a year thanks to his book royalties.

Rahm Emmanuel reported 2008 investment income of at least $168,107 on a portfolio worth between $4.5 million and $11 million. Sure he took a pay cut to take the government job, but he still makes six figures and now he has political power.

The president’s salary is $400,000 right now I believe. Plus he gets a pension for when he leaves the White House. He also gets to stay in the fully furnished White House. All he has to pay for is his children’s private school and clothes.

Not to get too political, but in a time with 12 percent unemployment and a recession. Is it really neccessary to use our tax dollars to pay these people outrageous salaries. Especially when they are already making millions without our help. A good system would be to pay the president and his staff the national average, around $35,000. They don’t need more money to do their jobs properly, it’s just an added bonus. You could even factor in the cost of living in D.C. just to make sure they can “get by.”