Sequestration

I know, I know... political discussions are frowned upon in gaming forums, but this one is a bit in my craw and I need to vent.

For those that don't follow politics (shame on you!), sequestration is the mandatory, across-the-board spending cuts that are coming at the end of this week because Congress couldn't get it's spend-a-holic posterior ends together long enough to pass some simple spending measures last year (nor during the entire time leading up til now).

Let me be blunt: all the hype about what is going to happen if sequestration goes through is just that: hype. And here's why:

Due to a Nixon-era phenomenon called "baseline budgetting", federal spending automatically increases each year by 6%. Nothing has to be submitted for approval, nothing is voted on, it just happens.

Sequestration is supposed to cut ~10% of total spending. Well once you get deeeep into the numbers you find it's only about 2-3% for any given agency. Let's be clear on this: if your agency can't survive on the spending levels it had last year or the year before (2 cents on every Dollar), then someone in your upper management (usually finance) needs to be fired.

The things I have heard over the past week:
-Nuclear sites won't be guarded
-Military training will be cut by 75%
-Emergency personnel won't get paid
-800k government contractors will have to take furloughs each month

and the insanity goes on. This crosses the spectrum of news outlets from Fox News to MSNBC, and everything in between.

The problem is that Congress is like a drug addict when it comes to spending. Try cutting an addict's supply, even just a little and you'll see a very similar reaction. Don't buy into the hype.

This is why we're ultimately doomed.

The government will never cut, and never shrink...ever.
It will just grow and grow, reaching for more and more every step of the way with nothing but their own best interests in mind until we revolt and kill them all.

That's why when my wife and I have a child, we will raise it as a warrior.

I don't think the problem is the spending or the budget at this juncture -- it's the usual political blame game. Both sides are convinced that the other party is going to take the bulk of the blame AND are willing to see the consequences happen simply so they'll have more political capital for the next election. Forget fixing the problems, they just want to see how much damage they can do to the other guy.

+1

Seriously, I think news outlets do more harm than good when it comes to informing the public. They always make things sound worse than they really are. Then the people who do not do their own research buy into and believe all the nonsense, and then they start telling others about it which makes others panic or worry. They have a good a handle on public, they make most of our countries population believe anything because everyone has become so lazy.

Government spending cuts have always been a joke. A common tactic is for them to say they are cutting 10% of their budget, so it sounds like they are really cutting out some fat and make it appear that they are really trying to cut costs.


However, in reality, this percent cut is from their requested budget for the next year, so, they are not really cutting anything at all.


As far as the media goes, what can you expect when 6 Parent companies own just about everything?


Sensationalism sells and that is all that really matters to these companies.


After all, how many times have you seen the media issue a retraction or an apology when they get it wrong? And if they do, how often is it the lead in?


Honestly, if you look around, you will see that the three pillars of maintaining power are in full effect right now.


Keep the masses poor, ignorant, and afraid.


Truth just ends up down the Memory Hole.

I'm going to agree and disagree at the same time. I agree in that everything is a result of party-first politics from both sides of the aisle. I disagree in that spending is indeed a massive problem.

Ever since 2005, the federal government has taken in record or near-record amounts of taxes (or "revenues" for the accounting types). Since 2009, the annual deficit spending (ie: spending after the bank account is cleaned out) has been about $1.2 Trillion.

From the White House's website (http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/budget/fy2013/assets/hist01z1.xls):
Tax revenue by year (in trillions):
Year Revenue Spending +/-
2000 2.025......1.789....+.236
2001 1.991......1.862....+.128
2002 1.853......2.010....-.157
2003 1.782......2.159....-.377
2004 1.880......2.292....-.412
2005 2.153......2.472....-.318
2006 2.406......2.655....-.248
2007 2.568......2.728....-.160
2008 2.524......2.982....-.458
2009 2.105......3.587....-1.412
2010 2.162......3.456....-1.293
2011 2.303......3.603....-1.299
2012 2.468......3.795....-1.326 (estimate)

The brunt of this extra spending, as best I understand it, is the renewing of the 2009 Stimulus package (because Congress has never met a Dollar it didn't want to spend). The sad, pathetic truth of this is that the ONLY way any sort of cuts are going to happen is through sequestration and even then it's more of a cut on the growth of spending than actual spending.

Around 140 A.D. a Roman satirist named Juvenal coined the phrase panem et circenses ("bread and circuses") to describe (and lament) the only remaining cares of the new Roman populace. It sprang from Roman politicians who came up with the idea that the easiest way to win re-election was to endear the populace to them by giving them food (bread) and distracting them with entertainment (circuses), all paid for by the government.

Already long ago, from when we sold our vote to no man, the People have abdicated our duties; for the People who once upon a time handed out military command, high civil office, legions — everything, now restrains itself and anxiously hopes for just two things: bread and circuses.

It worked then and it still works today because so many people will always gravitate toward things that make them feel good, even when it's bad for them.

Good data and no arguments from me on that. I perceive that the party-first stuff is the root of the problem, but it is no LESS of an issue than the out of control spending.

I will trade you that quote for this one, by Dr. Adrian Rogers:

“Friend, you cannot legislate the poor into freedom by legislating the wealthy out of freedom. And what one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving. The government can’t give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody. And when half of the people get the idea they don’t have to work because the other half’s going to take care of them, and when the other half get the idea it does no good to work because somebody’s going to get what I work for. That, dear friend, is about the end of any nation.”

Bread and circuses indeedy.

Political Discussions are not permitted on these forums. Closing this down now. Thank you!