The Dailies

So much brouhaha surrounds the most recent US trip of the country’s president. I understand that people are appalled with the reports coming in on expensive lunches and dinners, lavish hotel accommodations plus a bid by the president herself to buy a brand new jet she can use in further travels until her term ends May 2010. Sure, it is appalling considering she’s the president of a third world country and that so many of her citizens are crying from too much poverty. Regardless of her claims that the government’s not the one who paid for the expensive meals, it is still inappropriate for her to partake in that kind of extravagance. I can understand that.

But the thing is, if it’s only her who spent the money, it’s okay. A company’s CEO or other executives won’t be billeted in a less than 5-star hotel when they travel for business. The company shoulders the expenses, of course. The CEO (and other executives) will also spend on items from the mini bar, expensive meals by themselves or with other company officials, other hotel amenities, and even a night out or two. These expenses are all shouldered by the company unless otherwise a personal one. It would be the same with the country’s head of state. So what’s all the fuss?

The fuss is all about the entourage who also partook of the lavish meals and hotel accommodations. Imagine bringing that many people with you. Why would the dinner amount to $20,000? It’s because they are a hundred in number, if I am not mistaken. 100 people in a very expensive restaurant is really costly!

Wrong judgment on your part, madame president. That’s what triggered this brouhaha. She should just apologize to the nation. Again, regardless if the government paid for the meals or not (as they are claiming), it is still bad judgment to partake in that oh so lavish meals considering half of your country’s population can’t even eat a meal in a day!

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 20th, 2009 at 4:01 pm and is filed under Infotainment. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.