Much like the modern day political party conventions, the inauguration of our new president has become more of a chance to make money and put on a Hollywood spectacle than what it meant when George Washington was inaugurated. In the old days, seeing the new leader of our country sworn into office was more of an opportunity to experience history.
Sure, many of the people who go to the inauguration are political buffs and are in attendance for the same reason as their ancestors. It isn’t to say to their co-workers at the water cooler, “Hey, I went to the inauguration.” It is for personal value and see the changing of the guard and the change of an era, not to make money. In fact, these people end up paying astronomically high prices to see history in person, to people just trying to make a quick buck and in most cases care very little about the event.
In an era where the dollar is worth more than the moral value of an individual, price gauging will prevail. We’ve all been to a sporting event where seedy looking ticket scalpers try to sell a seat for twenty times the ticket value. In recent years the conception of Stubhub.com, EBAY.com, and Ticketmaster.com allow anyone to get into the scalping game.
Average businessmen with the means to buy twenty tickets at the average cost of $150 can make the purchase and put them on stubhub.com for $1,000 a ticket. Now, I’m not a businessman but with my rough math skills, this person would stand to make about $17,000 assuming the tickets sold, which they undoubtedly would.
Even bars and pubs have vowed to remain open 24 hours a day during inauguration week. Well everyone knows, liquored up people are more likely to open their wallets and spend so why not cater to the idea of making more money.
Individuals and businesses aren’t the only ones getting involved with the market of price gauging. Hotels, apartment complexes and even homeowners are targeting citizens who wish to see their next president at the moment he assumes the presidency. Today is Friday, Dec. 5, 2008, roughly a month and ten days before the inauguration festivities begin. While most hotels are already sold out, the few rooms that remain are hard to find below $1,000 per night. Those rooms are expected to go quickly.
For those out of luck, many homeowners have put the use of their couch or their extra room up for rent on Craigslist.com. Just yesterday, I saw a couch in Tyson’s Corner, VA. available to rent for a week at the price of $1200 per day. As of this morning, it is no longer on Craigslist.com. That couch I presume was rented, and sold for the total price of $6,000. Now, while I too would like to see the inauguration, I would much rather use the $6,000 to buy a new couch and an enormous HDTV to watch the inauguration on. In actuality, I would probably have a much better view on the TV then I would by standing near the Washington Monument, a mile away from the president. Aside from this one time event, I would be able to watch football every week on my new comfortable couch.
My $6,000 would be spent on something that I could use over and over instead of lodging expenses in a town half an hour away from Washington D.C. Oh, and let’s not forget that the $6,000 does not include the tickets to the official inauguration events. In an economy like the one we’re living in; it seems to me there is too much frivolous spending.
So on Jan. 20, 2009 I will be watching President-Elect Barrack Obama from the comfort of my living room for $4.83, which is 1/31 of my total cable bill or the amount I pay per day for cable. While some may prefer to empty their savings account for this event, I prefer to save the money and witness the historic event in beautiful HD from home.
Thomas Faust is a junior journalism major. He can be reached for comment at [email protected].
