Most of the news these days revolves around the "SEQUESTER" a form of budget cutting that requires across the board cuts when the various Congressional players and the President cannot agree on specific cuts. Designed to be "drastic" and "so egregious" as to encourage the Congress to actually CUT the budget. The result of this is the circus we see playing out in the media on a daily basis.
The President, in an effort to avoid any cuts at all has revved up the scare tactics. "Our National Security is at risk, FBI agents will get laid off, US Attorneys will have to let criminals go and not prosecute, no air traffic controllers, no border security, no day care, no funding for disabled children or school lunches. No money bullets for soldiers in harms way. No money for training for troops deploying to Afghanistan." I was born at night but I wasn't born last night.
The Federal Budget has increased an average of 6% since the 1986 Budget Control Act defined "baseline budgeting" which allows the government to grow at approximately 6% from the previous years "base" Add to that the fact that somehow Obama's Stimulus has been added to the baseline.
The long and the short of this is that government continues to grow. Even after the sequestration the government will spend more money in 2013 than it did in 2012 and is projected to spend more money in each successive year than the previous. We are barely slowing down the rate of growth much less actually cutting government spending.
The President already has tranfer authority and could decide that it is more cost effective to cut the economists at the Labor Department rather than Air Traffic Controllers or cut conferences at GSA rather than school lunches. However, this President is a political animal and any admission that we have spending that we can cut is an admission that is agenda may be wrong for the economy.
At this point it looks like the sequester will happen inspite of all the rhetoric and demagogury. The Democrats and the Presidents worst fear is that no one will notice.
The President, in an effort to avoid any cuts at all has revved up the scare tactics. "Our National Security is at risk, FBI agents will get laid off, US Attorneys will have to let criminals go and not prosecute, no air traffic controllers, no border security, no day care, no funding for disabled children or school lunches. No money bullets for soldiers in harms way. No money for training for troops deploying to Afghanistan." I was born at night but I wasn't born last night.
The Federal Budget has increased an average of 6% since the 1986 Budget Control Act defined "baseline budgeting" which allows the government to grow at approximately 6% from the previous years "base" Add to that the fact that somehow Obama's Stimulus has been added to the baseline.
The long and the short of this is that government continues to grow. Even after the sequestration the government will spend more money in 2013 than it did in 2012 and is projected to spend more money in each successive year than the previous. We are barely slowing down the rate of growth much less actually cutting government spending.
The President already has tranfer authority and could decide that it is more cost effective to cut the economists at the Labor Department rather than Air Traffic Controllers or cut conferences at GSA rather than school lunches. However, this President is a political animal and any admission that we have spending that we can cut is an admission that is agenda may be wrong for the economy.
At this point it looks like the sequester will happen inspite of all the rhetoric and demagogury. The Democrats and the Presidents worst fear is that no one will notice.
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