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Back in September 2021, when Barack and Michelle Obama kicked off the ceremonial groundbreaking with cameras rolling, the endowment sat at only $1 million — a shocking 0.21% of the promised $470 million. According to tax documents, nothing has changed since.
Meanwhile, costs for the project have exploded. What began as a $330 million undertaking has now ballooned to at least $850 million. With expenses skyrocketing and the endowment stuck at the same paltry amount, critics argue taxpayers could be left holding the bag if the center’s finances collapse.
The foundation’s latest filings paint an even uglier picture — showing volatile revenues, broken donor pledges, and a project dependent on constant fundraising to stay afloat.
Illinois GOP Chair Kathy Salvi didn’t hold back, calling the whole situation an “abomination” and accusing Democrats of betraying the public trust.
“It should come as no surprise that the Obama Center is potentially leaving Illinois taxpayers high and dry — it’s an Illinois Democrat tradition,” Salvi told Fox News Digital. “Democrats in this state, when not going to prison for corruption, treat taxpayers like a personal piggy bank giving sweetheart deals to their political benefactors.”
Legal experts have been sounding the alarm for years. Richard Epstein, a University of Chicago law professor emeritus, warned city leaders repeatedly about the dangers of the endowment shortfall. He now says this mess proves his point.
“They put a million dollars into a $400 million endowment, so it’s endowed. That gets you in jail as a securities matter,” Epstein told Fox News Digital. “An endowment means that you have the money in hand. But they have nothing. They just have the same $1 million that they put in in 2021 as far as I can tell. So, I regard this as something of a public calamity.”
Epstein explained the endowment was supposed to generate enough yearly income to keep the center running without ever dipping into taxpayer funds. With no real endowment, he warned, operating costs could spiral out of control.
“Without an endowment, they’ll have to scramble every year to cover $30 million in operating costs,” Epstein said. “The whole point of an endowment is to avoid that volatility. They just haven’t endowed it. Of that I’m 100% sure.”
He also warned that if the center fails or construction stalls, taxpayers could be forced to pay for cleanup, traffic rerouting, or even an abandoned building.
“Nobody knows exactly who is responsible for what if the project is abandoned or incomplete,” he told Fox. “There is a risk that the public will then have to bear that loss because the foundation won’t have the money.”
Despite all this, the city has officially labeled the foundation “compliant” on the endowment requirement — even though only $1 million was ever deposited. Epstein says this shows city leaders never planned to hold the Obama Foundation accountable in the first place.
FUCK OBAMA. He`s a prick.