The Sequester Strikes its First Victims!
 

As predicted, sequester cuts will hit those most vulnerable. In this instance it’s the children of the men and women serving in our military. The cuts will impact schools serving those children living on or near military bases almost at once. I grew up in the military, and for us Army brats, the schools were excellent, and I appreciate the education I received from them in my early years.

I can only imagine my Father’s distress had he been serving a tour in Korea or Vietnam, only to find out that the government had closed down or curtailed his daughter’s schooling while he was on the other side of the world and helpless to do anything about it.

I imagine military members doing tours of duty outside the country today will feel no differently than my Dad would have – very worried and concerned.

USA! USA! USA! Your country thanks you.

NOT. :mad:

More -

Too bad.
So sad.

Word on the street is 4,000 head start slots will be lost in New York State, nobody seems to have any idea how many classrooms will be shuttered in my organization. On the upside this is the only way the fuckers will ever cut "defense" spending.

Military Industrial Complex Invokes Emotional Plea for More Tax Dollars

And what the fuck are single parents (well, any parents but singletons especially) supposed to do if they haven't got access to subsidized childcare? How many part time working mums will have to give up that part time work?

I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess that single moms or the working poor were not among Boehner's biggest contributors in the last election cycle. This is how dictatorships can take root in democracies. The utter failure of elected officials to man up and make real choices will lead to folks asking that more power be placed in fewer hands.

I have no love for the military industrial complex. Halliburten can go to hell along with all the rest as far as I'm concerned. But active duty military and their families, as well as our vets should not have to pay for Dick Cheney's sins.

Many bad things will come down if the mindless sequester remains in place. The fact that some frivolous expenditures will get the ax doesn't make it any better.

At the bottom of this page at Whitehouse.Gov, there's a link to a pdf for each state, spelling out what the White House claims is the likely result of this nonsense.

Boehmer is not the problem here. He tried to fix it. Then his party wackos discovered his Grand Bargain. Intentionally subverted it. Because wackos (ie tea partiers who even wanted a witch for Senator) want America to fail. Limbaugh, Norquist, et al tell these wackos what to think.

Frontline's Cliffhanger discusses this.

Extremists among us destroyed a budget surplus by spending on everything wasteful including welfare to the rich. Invented wars to "protect our oil" (rhetoric from the Project for a New American Century). Tried to put Social Security into the stock market. Advocated tax cuts by even ignoring the lessons from Kennedy's tax cuts. Intentionally subvert the Security and Exchange budget to therefore create Bernie Madoff and other destruction. Blamed unions for America's diminished productivity created by money games. Openly attacked space science and other essential research such as quantum physics. Borrowed massively from the Chinese while passing laws that kept those expenses out of the budget (to hide their deficits). Destroyed jobs by enriching the rich. And then blamed their unchecked spending and unpaid bills on Obama.

Cheney said, "Reagan proved that deficits don't matter." Now those deficits do matter. Cheney, acidicly on Charlie Rose, openly blames our deficits on Obama. Only a brainwashed extremist could believe that.

Boehmer only has two choices. Be backstabbed by his party extremists (as they also did to Gingrich). Or recite their rhetoric.

The Republican party hates moderates as Sen Snow (R-Maine) so bluntly stated. Moderates need facts and numbers. Extremists hate people who would work for America. Or who learn facts before making a conclusion.

Boehmer is a trapped rat in a party dominated by people who, for example, passed laws to ban research into gun violence. He can only recite extremist ideology now that so many of us so hate America as to even want research into gun violence banned.

Dictatorships? Quite correct. A lesson well proven in history. Nazis used similar tactics in early 1930s Germany to obtain power. They were successfull because so many adults who were children believed the rhetoric rather than learn facts like an adult.

Nice find Bruce. I checked out what this means for just Colorado:

Military Readiness: In Colorado, approximately 12,000 civilian Department of Defense employees would be furloughed, reducing gross pay by around $68.5 million in total.

Army: Base operation funding would be cut by about $57 million in Colorado.
Air Force: Funding for Air Force operations in Colorado would be cut by about $8 million.

Nutrition Assistance for Seniors: Colorado would lose approximately $720,000 in funds that provide meals for seniors.

Protections for Clean Air and Clean Water: Colorado would lose about $2 million in environmental funding to ensure clean water and air quality, as well as prevent pollution from pesticides and hazardous waste. In addition, Colorado could lose another $1.2 million in grants for fish and wildlife protection.

And more...

I don't know why you use the word "claims," Bruce. These are the things that will happen if spending is cut as dictated by the sequester. No, we may not see some of these things happen immediently, but they WILL happen if the damned government doesn't get its head out of its ass.

I say claims because these cuts allow some wiggle room for the department heads as how to apply them. It's politics and I'd bet a lot that these predictions are worst case scenarios.

I doubt anyone in congress will be suffering very much from these cuts. I got an email from my Republican Senator citing several items the government pays for which would make most taxpayers roll their eyes, unfortunately I didn't save it.

I've heard it said that the amount that needs to be cut - $85 billion - is about what the US spends on the war on drugs each year.

Some polling.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/127367698/...n-poll-Results

Congress suffering from the cuts? BWAH HA HA HA!

It was mentioned in another thread here that it is actually illegal to change the amount of compensation that Congress receives until the NEXT congress gets convened. So our representatives will continue to get their salaries, plus all the bennies like government paid health care (which tea party members are happy to avail themselves of).

Even if Congress was dropped from the government payroll, they wouldn't even notice since the real compensation for Congressional members comes from payments by the "too big to fail outfits" and other well funded special interest groups.

Government of, by and for the people? Yeah, right. :right:

@Griff Nice link. Thanks for posting it.

You would think, by now, that everyone knows who is now most represented in government at the expense of the public. We changed the definition of a corporation. A corporation is now a person who can spend as much as he wants to distort facts and reality. As McCain so bluntly noted, the Supreme Court did not grasp that fact, in part, because none were employed where opinions and decisions can be sold to the highest bidder.

You would think everyone identifies those who most corrupt government. Who can spend unlimited money buying influence. Italy just voted Berlusconi back into power. Who in the world would be so dumb as to vote for Berlusconi? Those who can be brainwashed with rhetoric.

The Economist has a picture of a smiling Berlusconi entitled "Send in the Clowns". Why did so many Italians vote against their interests? Why were so many Italians so anti-Italy? Berlusconi controls a majority of Italy's media. He preaches like Fox News does in America and Murdoch did in Britain. So many can be brainwashed by a few who literally 'buy' their opinions. The majority are so easily brainwashed to even deny they are easily brainwashed.

Many Americans are also adults acting as children. Irresponsible rich (who do not create the jobs) obstruct solutions for one simple reason. They believe their purpose is to create profits; screw America. They preach trickle down economics. And they say it is good for corporations and the super rich to spend as much as they want to buy politicians.

You would think every American understands brainwashing that has created myths to hate the poor. Last week was a perfect example of how many 'know' only because they were told how to think? They voted for Berlusconi. No intelligent person would have done that. But votes are that easily bought - in public and in Congress. Extremists said that is good. Only extremists would respect Berlusconi. Only an extremist needs Congress influenced by those who invent profits and no jobs. Those who know without first learning facts are quick to endorse myths that even promote hate of the poor.

We have a sequester because extremists say "my way or the highway". Or "we want America to fail" - a direct quote from Rush Limbaugh. Or "Reagan proved that deficits don't matter" - a direct quote from the extremist VP Cheney. Last week was a perfect example of how many adults can be manipulated like children. They voted for Berlusconi.

What's the use of having all that green if you you can't buy a few politicians????

Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, Andrew Carnegie, the Rockefeller family, and recently Michael Bloomberg all answered that question in numbers that have exceed $billions.

tw wrote We have a sequester because extremists say "my way or the highway". Or "we want America to fail" - a direct quote from Rush Limbaugh. Or "Reagan proved that deficits don't matter" - a direct quote from the extremist VP Cheney. Last week was a perfect example of how many adults can be manipulated like children. They voted for Berlusconi.

I don't know about Italy, but in the US, tea party members are an extremely ignorant and uninformed group. I suppose you could say that makes them like childrem. However, IMO they are just xenophobic and closed minded.

The far right has a significant percentage of people with racist attitudes as I've mentioned before in other threads. There is a genuine fear that black people will riot in the streets if they happen to feel like it - for whatever reason. Even a dweller here (who shall remain anonymous) mentioned to me in a pm that they were concerned because if Obama lost the recent election, African Americans would take to the streets and disrupt the entire country. :eek:

Such beliefs contribute to the " just say 'no' " attitude of conservatives in the House. They are outwardly enraged and secretly frightened that a black person has become POTUS not only once, but twice. Thus, anything Obama suggests is immediently opposed as a manner of routine. I bet that the tea party would suddenly decide the rich should be taxed to the hilt if Obama made a speech saying he had changed his stance and wanted to protect the wealthy from any new taxes.








sent by waves bounced off a million tin hats

This article http://capitalgainsandgames.com/blog...ing-do-deficit gives a very interesting analysis of the reason for the sequester.


short version: Each Republican Rep is more concerned about being beaten in the primary than in the general election, and so is securing their own position at the expense of their party's overall electability. In this case, that means rigid opposition to tax increases.

I find this amusing.

It is another one of those situations (like the prisoners' dilemma, stag hunt problem etc) in which each individual rationally pursuing their own self interest clearly does not lead to the best outcomes for all (as in the party), or even for any of them (since each is more likely to win the primary but lose the general, and their party will continue to lose elections).

And so the greatest advocates of the neo-con fallacy are, as a group, being eaten up by it.

In times like these, you have to take your amusement where you find it.

Interesting article, Zen. The liberal media here have been reporting on the being “primaried” thing. (Don’t know if Fox discusses it, since Fox always makes me want to puke every time I try to watch it.) From your link:

(emphasis my own)

This brings us back to the rank and file of the tea party – the tail which wags the dogs in Congress. Yes, they are vehemently opposed not only to new taxes, but to any taxes at all. Their goal is to shrink the government by starving it of funding.

BTW, major corporations also love the idea of a smaller government since financial regulatory agencies and others like the EPA and OSHA would be rendered powerless in such a scenario. How nice to be able to play whatever games you wanted with financial instruments and never be reprimanded, much less caught. How great for the bottom line if only you didn’t have to comply with costly rules to protect the environment and worker safety, etc., etc.

But back to the rank and file. They like the fact that a smaller government means smaller to no “entitlement” programs. They view those who are assisted by such programs as mostly lazy con artists; Mexican illegal’s who sneak over the border to get on food stamps; and last but not least – the infamous African American “welfare queen.” Americans are supposed to be self sufficient and pull themselves up by their bootstraps. After all, as the myth has it, this is the land of opportunity where anyone can become a millionaire if only they work hard enough.

The American paradigm has yet to change to reflect the fact that we no longer have a vast frontier with land available to all who wish to plant "fields of grain from sea to shining sea.” How ironic the words engraved on the statue of liberty, “Give me your poor, your huddled masses yearning to be free” when right wingers call for Mexicans crossing the border to be shot on sight – no quarter given. The hum of dissonance in this country is overwhelming, so most Americans keep their fingers in their ears to avoid hearing it.

My feeling is that the US is going to become a victim of its own hubris as well as its history as a nation that endorsed slavery – a circumstance which has polarized the country from its inception and continues to have social fallout to this very day.

Never mind the fact that America is slowly but surely becoming more of a plutocracy and less of a democracy with every congressman bought out by special interests and every Supreme Court decision in favor of the CEO at the expense of the citizen.

If I were younger, I’d be filling out immigration forms for Australia.











sent by a lone voice crying out in the desert

Heavens, don't think you're alone in this. The last 30 to 40 years have seen a big increase in the power and wealth of plutocrats everywhere. Look at Britain, Italy, Russia, China. The media tycoons push their story so hard, enough people will buy it, and they use this to set the middle class and the poor against each other, thus keeping them too busy to notice their real enemy.
Australia is going in much the same direction, we're just economically okay because China keeps buying lots of rocks from us.

I'm not sure how this can be "fixed" or indeed how it will develop, but I fear something violent and cathartic will have to happen.

Republican governor of Virginia speaks.

The governor says that cutting the budget will hurt employment, especially in Virginia.

Other repubicans say that increasing taxes on the wealthy will hurt employment

Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Tex.), on Fox News, Nov. 8, 2012 says
“The president wants to raise taxes on the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans. But what that does is it net loses 700,000 more American jobs that are really from people who need those jobs.”

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), Nov. 9
“According to Ernst & Young, raising the top rates would destroy nearly 700,000 jobs in our country.”


The republican stance: Cutting budgets, except on programs that help the poor, will increase unemployment, and raising taxes on the wealthy will increase unemployment, so the only option is to take away the people who have the least to be taken.

Freudian slip? :p

Unfortunately I bet a lot of the violence and catharsis will not be visited upon those most deserving of it.

Absolutely. Add "from" between "away" and "the". Or not.;)

Although a solution to our problem would be to eliminate all the "non-productive units" of our society. The rich would be happy, not having to contribute any of their precious wealth to slackers and misfits. The employment supply would decrease, increasing demand and raising incomes. And if we allow gun owners to just shoot all the dregs of society, they'll be happy, too.;)

Cut taxes for the rich to create the worst recession since 1929. Clinton raised taxes and created economic boom. Reagan raise taxes resulting in economic boom and jobs. Reality comes from history.

Ironically Republicans are citing MBAs as informed experts. We know what destroys jobs and companies. MBAs. Did someone forget to tell the Republicans? No. Republicans are preaching to those who only believe the first thing they are told. Honesty is irrelevant. Especially when 'we want America to fail'.

Been a member of a political discussion group with this guy. He is also a friend of a friend IRL. I dislike the sources of his numbers, but the piece offers a fantastic & clear view of the issue.
(Sorry if this has been posted elsewhere - mods can remove if so)

That was excellent.

Aside from the misunderstanding of socialism...

But hey...other than that it was really good. Thanks for posting.

Here's another I saw recently that I liked...

My connection is too slow for me to watch videos easily, so this may be a bit off track, but ...

Elizabeth Warren ROCKS.

"How many billions of dollars of drug cartel money does HMBC need to launder before we look at shutting them down?"
"Why has no-one from wall street faced criminal charges over their conduct over the last decade?"

I don't know if she'll achieve much, but she's asking the right questions.

She was so compelling that she went 2 minutes over her allotted time. No one said a thing. She was that on. Yet at the end of it all ... nothing changed. Thats what really bothers me the most. Its all just feel-good theater. :mad2:

"Loved her, hated him."

Here's another coming whammy as a result of sequester cuts to the extended unemployment benefits - supposedly kept in place by Congress. I got a notice in my e-mail today from the Colorado Unemployment office informing me to expect my benefit to go down - maybe even vanish by April 1. April fool, suckers! And you thought you were going to be able to pay your rent next month!

I'm only getting my extended benefits starting on March 25. That's an entire week's worth. Whoo Hoo! Thanks so much, you worthless group of sleeze bags who pretend to be our "Representatives." :right:

Life is tough on the fringe. :(

Especially the lunatic fringe!

At least this time around I'm prepared and I've cut my bare bone budget down to the marrow.

On the good news front, seems like a few of the hotel/motels around here are accepting Front Desk Applications just in case the economy is getting better in the rest of the world other than the Four Corners. I'm dropping off resumes/applications to them first thing in the am.

The bad news is that many managers want to hire cute young things for the front desk jobs. Older applicants don't even get their resumes read. Then again, it's not everyday of the week that they get an applicant who has worked at the Bates and lived to tell the tale! ;)

The good news is, the recession is over. The bad news is, (besides the lunatics are still running the asylum), unemployment remains high and probably will for awhile. :(

I got an email last night from an administrator at my non-profit. One Early Head Start room and one infant and toddler room are closing. 4 teachers will be laid off. Head Start and on-site UPK are closing 2 weeks early. My department relies on HS to provide "typical" children for 2 integrated rooms, no word yet on that, but we contracted to provide integrated services which you obviously can't do in a non-integrated classroom. We don't know if my site will close early. Our organization is losing 5% of its Head Start budget which was already disbursed and must be paid back.

That right there is total bullshit.

:f207: That's truth, justice, and the Teapublican way. :f207:

From my national association newletter:

How does it impact the Federal Student Aid Programs?

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has announced that sequestration will cut overall ED funding by $2.278 billion. For federal student aid, the Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (FSEOG), Federal Work Study (FWS), TEACH Grant, TRIO, Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP), and Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need (GANN) will each see an estimated 5.0 percent cut during the first year of sequestration.

Stafford Loan origination fees are expected to rise from 1.00 to 1.05 percent and PLUS origination fees to rise from 4.00 to 4.20 percent. Annual or aggregate loan limits would not be impacted.

The Pell Grant is protected from sequestration for the first year. In years 2-10, (Award Years 2014-15 though AY 2022-23) Pell will be subject to cuts as a result of sequestration.

The specific long-term impact on Department of Education (ED) contractors is unknown.

When will I know how much was cut for the student aid programs at my campus?

Hopefully soon, but it could take several weeks to find out what the new campus-based allocations under sequestration will be for your campus-based programs. Using ED's institutional-level formula elements for the 2013-14 tentative campus-based allocations, NASFAA has created a list of estimated campus-based reductions on an institutional basis for both the FWS and FSEOG programs as a result of the impending sequester.

What should I tell my students?

For schools preparing award letters for the 2013-14 award year, we advise that award letter language include clear caveats that award amounts for FWS, FSEOG, TEACH, and loan origination fees are subject to change based on federal funding.

It's always fun telling students "I don't know nuttin'" when we're waiting on the feds. It's also fun for me when loan fees change midstream. Reporting nightmare.

Just a view from this side of the sequestration. The More You Know.

From the news I've been seeing, the only effect is the interruption of White House tours.

That's because you live at the epicenter, damage grows as it radiates.

I was watching CNN, and they seemed to be treating the cancelled tours as a scandal of some sort.

We're still recovering from the Reagan administration here. I suppose we all are. Never mind.:(

We're not recovering from a damn thing out here. Although I hear that cases of the plague have gone down in the ground squirrels.

Even our Republican Representative is deserting us!
 

From the Cortez Journal:

I hope he takes his $98,000 and jams it where the sun don't shine. He was next to impossible to get a hold of before. Now like the negleted kid who creates an imaginary friend, poor old Cortez will get an imaginary Congressman.

I think it was a bad idea for Democrats to cry out that the sequester would lead to the apocalypse. That obviously is not true but the sequester cuts will further the slow disintegration of our foundation, which, in my opinion, is even more dangerous for our country. A few job losses here and there won't produce an emotional reaction but they do add up and can be very damaging in the long run...


I personally know a few people who lost research positions (healthcare related) because of the cuts..

I have a friend who is a captain in the Coast Guard, and he had a planned trip to London for meetings there. He's in charge of the branch of the Coast Guard that oversees port security, including international supply chain stuff. I was talking briefly with him last night at a concert our kids were putting on, and he said the London trip had been cancelled due to the sequester. I suppose he can make phone calls and send emails instead of doing those meetings in London, but I think there is something lost when government leaders don't talk to their colleagues face to face once in awhile.

I could give you half a dozen similar stories from various friends I have here in Arlington. Mostly they are making cuts like this that aren't super painful but that do slightly harm the mission of these government agencies.

So the Head Start kids we provide therapies for are losing 2 weeks of class. We are still contractually/legally obligated to get them their services for the full time period. That means my department is going to take the financial hit to bus the children in, provide supervision, put together a classroom for kids with that on their IEP's, and whatever else pops up. I found this out after I had to send my aides home this week when their kids didn't show. We used to just put them on overhead for the day, but the squeeze is on, but at least no rich white guy had a flight delay.

Those reports on the cuts in the Meals on Wheels for homebound seniors are true - at least here. I went straight to the horse's mouth and called up the Director of the Montezuma County program. She told me the cuts were starting to hurt quite a few of our elderly folk here who depend on it. Everyone was rescued at the last moment (for now) when a compassionate businessman with the money to donate, gave our County meals on wheels program $10,000, so they could keep going another 6 months. Nice to know that there are human beings out there who don't share Congress's attitude of "Let the eat airline meals." :mad:

I'm less annoyed by the sequester than by the attempts to opt out certain powerful constituencies. McCain whining about cuts to our absurdly large military etc... At this point with the way we do budgets a meat ax is probably preferable to targeted cuts.

Am I the only one who thinks maybe the sequester was the plan all along? Both sides knew they needed to cave, both sides didn't want to be seen by their supporters as being the ones to cave, so they work together to draw up a doomsday plan that is actually pretty similar to what it would look like if they both caved, but set it up so that both sides could completely blame the other guy for making it happen.

Too conspiracy-theory?

It certainly became more palatable than doing actual work on a budget. Maybe so.

And now, everyone who is unemployed, come on down! I just got a letter informing me that due to the sequester, unemployment "benefits" will be cut by close to 19% - for starters. The letter said they'd keep us posted on further developments. Good of them, I'm sure.

Let's see; gas to go look for work or pay the electricity bill? Decisions, decisions. At least I won't have to worry about flying anywhere any time soon.

THIS grinds my gears.

It is gear-grinding, but honestly I was trying to understand what was being said and I thought Griff was saying that on flights they would put something (kids?) in the overhead (compartment) for the day.

Sorry. :lol: