Washington, DC. Shocked by the downgrade of US credit rating from AAA to AA+ by Standard & Poor’s, President Barack Obama has announced “austerity drive” to reduce fiscal spending, hoping to put US economy back in shape.
As a first step towards reduction in spending, Obama announced that he would stop traveling in luxury cars and instead travel in Tata Nano, the $2500 small family car from India.
“President Obama has ordered a fleet of 200 Tata Nanos for use by every official in the US government and the Fed,” a statement released by the White House confirmed the development.
Obama is seen happy with his Tata Nano
The original fleet of cars owned by the government, which consisted of huge limousines and other fancy luxurycars, would be sold off to pay off a part of the national debt, sources say.
Obama is supposed to have taken a leaf out of India’s books where the ruling UPA coalition had announced a similar austerity drive in 2009 to deal with the effects of the global slowdown of 2008.
“A proposal to travel in ‘cattle class’, whenever flying by air, is pending before the President; yes, Air Force One could also be sold off,” our source informed.
“Hillary Clinton wanted to buy a Birkin bag similar to the one carried by Pakistani foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar, but Obama has asked her to drop the plans till economy shapes up,” the source further revealed the stringent measures being taken by the US government as part of the drive.
Although austerity drives have been undertaken in many European countries as well, the US austerity drive is more likely to be modeled on the one that was followed in India.
“We are closely studying the drive that was launched in India as it seems to have worked,” a White House official confirmed, “We have observed that a string of scams followed the austerity drive; which means wealth was created for sure, thought it didn’t go into the government coffers.”
“We’d just make sure that the money thus created comes to us,” the official clarified why the US government was keen to follow the Indian model.
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