MnSpring
Serious Thumper
   
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Younger than most people my age.
Posts: 10916
Minn
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A Opinion, Which has been Aired.
"... The Obama Presidential Center is a disaster.
The project honoring one couple cost $850 million to build – the most expensive presidential center ever constructed, and it isn't close. While the buildings and exhibits were financed through private donations, Illinois taxpayers have spent approximately $123.3 million on infrastructure (road re-configurations, utility relocations), with that figure expected to approach $200 million by completion.
Nearby residents say construction drove rents up 43% and pushed home prices higher. The Obama Foundation, which had hoped to establish a $470 million endowment, currently holds only about $1 million in endowment funding.
The project has also been a nightmare for local workers and subcontractors who say they're still owed money, the opposite of the economic boost they were promised. Mike Owen, owner of Adamson Plumbing, says he is owed almost $4 million after years on the job.
"That is a hole that no subcontractor, small business can survive,"
Omar Shareef, president of the African American Contractors Association, says his contractors are owed money and feel silenced by nondisclosure agreements they signed.
"I've never seen this happen since I've been in business," Shareef told Fox News Digital. "The building does look nice, but the fact doesn't matter that they're not paying our darn contractors."
The Obamas left the White House in 2017, nearly a decade ago, yet they can't seem to resist the spotlight. Former fist lady Michelle Obama has written multiple books and made regular appearances on podcasts and talk shows.
In a recent interview on "Good Morning America," Barack Obama said that when it comes to public policy debates, he has transitioned from "player" to "coach." If by "player" he means building a nearly $1 billion shrine to his own presidency, sure – that's one way to stay relevant.
But the legacy he's enshrining deserves scrutiny. The Affordable Care Act (ACA), his signature achievement, drove health care premiums, deductibles and out-of-pocket costs sharply higher for millions of Americans – hardly the transformation he promised.
If the Obamas' accomplishments were truly memorable, they wouldn't need a hideous $850 million building, one that stiffed contractors and billed taxpayers, to prove it. The Presidential Center is the perfect monument to Obama's presidency itself: a grand gesture, lavishly executed, that promised transformation and delivered disappointment. ..."
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