Panetta's Perk

Well, it seems that Leon Panetta, the U.S. Secretary of Defense, has been getting a sort of "free ride" in commuting from his home in California to Washington, D.C. The man goes home every weekend on a military plane, pays a nominal fee -- $17,000 up to now -- and the rest -- about $860,000 --  is paid by the taxpayers. Of course, Panetta was very upfront about this perk, and it's nothing new: he had the same privilege as CIA Director. But, still, it's quite a tab that is surely resented by all those people who are having a hard time making ends meet, as well as a government whose economic situation is fragile, at best. When the President talks about the need for everyone to tighten their belts, this kind of expenditure is in very poor taste, to say the least.

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