Ticket brokers are asking for upwards of $20,000 for President-elect Barack Obama's inauguration next January.  Some 250,000 tickets for the event are the most sought after in recent memory.

How are these brokers getting the inaugural tickets that are usually handed out for free? Many will purchase them from Capitol Hill employees and people who get them from Congress members.  The government will release the tickets just before the inauguration and many orders will obviously not be filled as brokers will have no certainty of getting the quantity they want.

Inauguration organizers are doing their part to put a stop to the ticket scalping, but some believe many tickets will be available for purchase but the cost for the tickets might sky rocket upwards of $40,000 a piece.