The Sky Is Falling....Again

Well it’s just a few more hours and the United States as we know it will go up in flames as Firefighters, EMTs, and Police officers are sent home. Criminals will be released to rape, kill and basically raise havoc in our neighborhoods. Our defenders of peace, the military, will not get paid, causing the colapse of our nation. Children will be put out into the streets to starve. They will be refused an education, and, as if that isn’t horrible enough, they will have their cell phones turned off.

These and many many more fear evoking scenarios have been shouted from the rooftops for weeks. Problem is, it’s all lies. The ‘Sequester’ will do none of this. First, as a side note, Police, Fire, Emergency Medical, and Education are all local entities. Federal cuts should have nothing to do with them. It’s not the Feds job. But I digress, as that’s a rant for another day.

What the ‘Sequester’ will do is make Federal departments cut less than 2.5% of their projected spending. Not cut their spending, but cut the increased requested spending by less than two and a half cents on the dollar. To illustrate, let’s say a family has a budget of $1000.00 a month and decide they want to increase it to $1250.00. But then, due to income restrictions, (taxes went up, a raise didn’t go through, a washing machine went south, etc) they find that they have to trim 2.5% from the new budget. This means their budget is reduced to $1218.75. Is this going to force them into the streets? Is this going to cause them to starve? No, they will just reallocate what they have available.

Let me state here that I realize the above example is not a perfect one. The family spends their own money, and live within their means. Which is the total opposite of those elected officiqals on Capital Hill. But what I’m trying to point out is that there is no cut in spending. To put it another way, all these Federal bureaucracies will only receive 97.5% of their increased budget requests. If they can’t operate on that, then they have other issues. (Which goes without saying.)

Do I think the ‘Sequester’ is a great idea? No. Cutting 2.5 cents on the dollar from an increased budget that is already unrealistic is going to do nothing. It’s just a distraction, another ridiculous ‘compromise’ from a group of people who have forgotten (or never cared about) the oath to the Constitution and country they swore to uphold and defend. Both sides of the aisle should be held accountable for the lack of doing the job they were hired to do. They should be held accountable for the stupidity that is running amuck in our nation’s capital. But then again, we the people should be held accountable for re-electing them over and over and over again. (But that too, is a rant for another day.)

According to Encarta, ‘Sequester’ is defined as A) to put somebody in an isolated or lonely place away from other people, the pressures of everyday life, or possible disturbances; B) law to take legal possession of somebody's property temporarily until a debt that person owes is paid, a dispute is settled, or a court order is obeyed, and C) international law to demand or seize the property of an enemy.

 I'll let you decide for yourself which of the above definitions apply to our budget.