Gov junketeers keep luxury hotel busy

By Thomas Lifson

Now that corporate conference travel has fallen off a cliff, federal bureaucrats are stepping into the vacuum, providing customers for a luxury hotel in Phoenix, to help each other feel better. ABC News' Political Blotter reports:

Claiming they needed to learn how to reduce stress because of a growing number of death threats being made against them, nearly 700 executives from the Social Security Administration (SSA) gathered for a lavish three-day conference in Phoenix, AZ last week, costing taxpayers about $700,000.

"We received threats against our employees by people who are in the American public," said SSA Regional Commissioner for San Francisco Peter Spencer in defense of the conference. He said "there is a tremendous amount of stress involved in the job that we do."

The conference was at the Arizona Biltmore, a landmark luxury resort, one of the architectural gems of the state, and very far from a cheap place to hold a meeting.

It may be hard times for the private sector, and President Obama may have told businesses to cut back on those trips to Vegas, but for federal bureaucrats, let the good times roll, baby! Recession? What recession? Haven't you heard? The government is spending our money at a rate unequalled in history, and that must be really stressful for the poor darlings.

Maybe some day the American public will realize that they have been had, and a new ruling oligarchy has seized power and is feathering its nest.