To the editor:

In the Record’s last issue, a letter [“India trip too costly”] claimed that President Obama’s journey abroad would cost some $2 billion, including a staff of 3,000 and a convoy of 34 ships. The letter’s author and other readers will be relieved to learn that these numbers — arising from an anonymous source in an Indian newspaper — have no basis in fact and have been “refudiated” by the administration, Fox News, the New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal, among others.

Apparently for security reasons, administrations decline to reveal the cost of presidential trips; but according to a General Accounting Office analysis, a similar 10-day trip by President Clinton in 1999 cost about $42 million, not counting Secret Service expenses. So throw in those dollars and factor in inflation, and we’re still a long way from $2 billion — say, more than $1.9 billion away.

The letter also credits Obama with running up the national debt by more than $13 trillion. More good news: that’s the entire debt, not Obama’s share. The bad news: Obama’s piece of the pie is approaching $3 trillion.

Dean Holmes

Freeland