"The Clintons have made a $100-million fortune since leaving the White House, but a Politico analysis found that hasn't kept Bill Clinton from taking full advantage of the publicly funded perks offered to ex-presidents.
In fact, his presidential retirement benefits cost taxpayers almost as much as those of the other two living ex-presidents combined.
The price tag for Clinton's federal retirement allowance from 2001 through the end of this year will run $8 million, compared to $5.5 million for George H. W. Bush's and $4 million for Jimmy Carter's during the same period. Since 2001, Clinton has received more of almost every benefit available to former presidents — from his pension to his staff's salaries and benefits to supplies. His $420,000 phone bill and $3.2 million office rent tab both nearly surpassed the totals rung up for those purposes by Bush, Carter and the late former presidents Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan combined. As a group, they spent $484,000 on telephone service and $3.8 million on rent in the same span.
The figures come from congressional reports studying the presidential retirement program and from summaries of annual budget requests by the U.S. General Services Administration, which administers the program, created to allow former presidents to enjoy dignified retirements without having to take jobs that demean or commercialize the presidency.
[...]
All this is doubly vexing because the payments are made under the Former Presidents Act of 1958. That bill was enacted when news broke that former president Harry Truman was living on little more than his Army pension: As a matter of principle, Truman refused to give paid speeches, make endorsements or serve on corporate boards, because he believed such actions demeaned the dignity of the presidency. Phrases like "the dignity of the presidency" and "as a matter of principle" don't seem to have much meaning anymore in politics. But the whole point of the Former Presidents Act was to enable previous White House occupants to live comfortably without having to sell their names. Now Clinton is selling his name like mad, while George H. W. Bush, who was born into wealth, demands subsidies too. Thank goodness the dignified Truman did not live to see this selfish spectacle of ex-presidential money-grubbing..."
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0408/9531.html
