Michelle Obama's $375,000 Spanish holiday

Not bad if you can get it. My question is what is Michelle doing taking 40 friends with her on vacation. If she wants to go on vacation, fine. If she wants her friends to go, can't they pay their own way? I am sure that this $375,000 cost doesn't include a lot of the costs of her trip including her staff's cost of going with her.

Michelle Obama today faced a fresh wave of attacks over her lavish break in Spain with 40 friends, which could easily cost U.S. taxpayers a staggering £50,000 a day.
The First Lady has been lambasted for her extravagance at a time when the economy is still struggling. One blogger went so far as to brand her a modern-day Marie Antoinette.
And her critics will be further annoyed when they learn that the president's wife had a Spanish beach closed off today so that she, her daughter and their entourage could go for a swim.
Spanish police cleared off a stretch of beach at the Villa Padierna Hotel in Marbella after the Obamas had finished a busy day of sightseeing. . . .

For a start, they will be paying for the 60 rooms booked at the 129-room Hotel Villa Padierna. With basic rooms starting around £380 each, the nightly bill will be no less than £22,800. . . .

The meal cost about £40 a head, according to El Mundo - which means a bill topping £1,600 would have hit the table if all 40 friends dined together.
Stretched over five nights that's £8,000 for dinner alone. . . .

The per diems for the secret service team runs at around £172 each, which amounts to nearly £60,000 for the length of the summer break.
Use of Air Force Two, the Air Force version of a 757, comes in at £91,900 for the round trip. This does not include time on the ground. . . .

Conservative estimates already put the total cost at £150,000. With Majorca to come, the bill will be more like £250,000. . . .

Back in the U.S., anger was mounting - especially as it has emerged the First Lady will have enjoyed eight holidays by the end of the summer. . . .

The cost to taxpayers comes to about $75,000 per day.

The lunch is Mrs Obama's last engagement in Spain before flying home to Washington DC, where she has come under fire for her lavish break on the Costa del Sol with 40 friends, which has been estimated at costing U.S. taxpayers £50,000 a day. . . .

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