Well we are facing another fiscal "emergency" on Friday according to the President. March 1st we will have Sequestration. What a strange word. Who chose that word i wonder?
The technical definition of it is to segregate or separate. We for example sequester a jury during trial sometimes. The word was first used in the 15th century and comes from the Latin word "sequestrare" which means to hand over to a trustee.
Why would we use this term to define a decrease in an increase in spending? It seems to be an absolute miss in definition. Is the government trying to confuse the populous? The GOP claims the Democrats specifically the President and his staff came up with it. The President is claiming that all parties agreed to it. Who is right?
WHO CARES!
I am an independent so care for neither established party but it seems to me that they are acting like school kids blaming each other. Do we ever think about what we look like to the rest of the world? Do we care? Terrorists don't need to fear us because we can't agree on anything and we can't even use our own language correctly. This is a sad day in America.
So here is where we are in the stand off:
The President says that if the sequester goes through the economy is in trouble and so are many citizens. He claims we will see long lines at airports, slow response to accidents, possible bad beef and other food, and much more. He paints a picture that makes it sound like we are going to fall off a cliff. Actually the White House said today that we would be cutting millions from an Intelligence agency that ceased to exist years ago? additionally if you add up all the cuts in spending the President says we are going to make with the sequester it is not $85 billion of 1.5% of our national budget but closer to $850 billion? The math does not work. What is the President doing? Trying to scare folks? Why?
The Republicans for their part claim that the House has passed 2 bills addressing the sequester and the Senate will not pick up either. Speaker Bohener today said that the Senate needs to "get off its ass and pass a bill". The Senate it seems has a bill but it includes additional taxes or increased revenue, depending on what vernacular you want to use. Since the President just bullied the Congress into a $600 billion tax hike plus a payroll tax increase, the Republicans are saying enough. Is it enough? Should we take more from the wealthy to fund all the social programs the President wants? Some think we should.
I think the American people are confused and this time I lay the blame at the Presidents feet primarily. Here is the truth:
The Sequester calls for $85 billion in cuts to the increases planned in the budget for 2013. It does NOT decrease government spending! We will SPEND MORE this year than last year even if the cuts go into place March 1st. Let me repeat we will spend more - just not as much more as the president wants. We are NOT CUTTING SPENDING, just the increase in spending.
here is an example. In my house we spent $425 a month on a vehicle last year. This year we were planning on spending a $500 a month on a vehicle. The increase of $75 a month. We agreed that this would only be possible if we got a favorable tax refund. (our Sequester if you will). So if we don't we won't be taking the bus or walking to work - we will just have to live with a car for $425 a month. The same is true for this budget sequester. No services will stop, no one will die and we can function within the current budget terms. Sure I'd like to see the military get the increases they planned on and the same for the TSA but we just can't afford it.
We are currently looking at spending more than $1 trillion dollars than we take in through taxes etc. That is a huge deficit and we can't last very long doing that. Our debt burden is closing in on $17 trillion and we want to spend more? Are our leaders nuts? The world economy is tenuous at best, our recovery (if you can call it a recovery) is shakier than the Harlem Shuffle and our debt rating is on the verge of going down again.
So everyone regardless of political party needs to step up. We are America - lets show the world that we are responsible and mature. lets demand a balanced budget and get our fiscal house in order. If you are not motivated by national pride then do it for your kids and grand kids. I don't care what your motivation is but find it and send our Congress and the president a message - "stop bickering, cut spending and get us a balanced budget". Come on people put politics aside an do the right thing!
And I don't want to hear about all the bad things that will happen to folks if we don't spend more. I know and we should have thought of that when we went crazy and developed the current expenditure model. Yes it will be tough and yes it will be tougher on some than others but guess what that is Democracy! We are not a socialist society and not everyone is entitled to same things - get over it. I want to drive a new 458 Ferrari but i can't afford more than a Nissan. I understand whats its like to have something and then loose it but like good Americans we adjust and move on. We get knocked down in life a lot but what defines us is how we get back up and fight another day - not how much we whine and demand that the wealthy take care of us. Need I remind you that we did that once before in this country it was called slavery! I don't want that so lets stand up and do what is right and lets do it right NOW!
The technical definition of it is to segregate or separate. We for example sequester a jury during trial sometimes. The word was first used in the 15th century and comes from the Latin word "sequestrare" which means to hand over to a trustee.
Why would we use this term to define a decrease in an increase in spending? It seems to be an absolute miss in definition. Is the government trying to confuse the populous? The GOP claims the Democrats specifically the President and his staff came up with it. The President is claiming that all parties agreed to it. Who is right?
WHO CARES!
I am an independent so care for neither established party but it seems to me that they are acting like school kids blaming each other. Do we ever think about what we look like to the rest of the world? Do we care? Terrorists don't need to fear us because we can't agree on anything and we can't even use our own language correctly. This is a sad day in America.
So here is where we are in the stand off:
The President says that if the sequester goes through the economy is in trouble and so are many citizens. He claims we will see long lines at airports, slow response to accidents, possible bad beef and other food, and much more. He paints a picture that makes it sound like we are going to fall off a cliff. Actually the White House said today that we would be cutting millions from an Intelligence agency that ceased to exist years ago? additionally if you add up all the cuts in spending the President says we are going to make with the sequester it is not $85 billion of 1.5% of our national budget but closer to $850 billion? The math does not work. What is the President doing? Trying to scare folks? Why?
The Republicans for their part claim that the House has passed 2 bills addressing the sequester and the Senate will not pick up either. Speaker Bohener today said that the Senate needs to "get off its ass and pass a bill". The Senate it seems has a bill but it includes additional taxes or increased revenue, depending on what vernacular you want to use. Since the President just bullied the Congress into a $600 billion tax hike plus a payroll tax increase, the Republicans are saying enough. Is it enough? Should we take more from the wealthy to fund all the social programs the President wants? Some think we should.
I think the American people are confused and this time I lay the blame at the Presidents feet primarily. Here is the truth:
The Sequester calls for $85 billion in cuts to the increases planned in the budget for 2013. It does NOT decrease government spending! We will SPEND MORE this year than last year even if the cuts go into place March 1st. Let me repeat we will spend more - just not as much more as the president wants. We are NOT CUTTING SPENDING, just the increase in spending.
here is an example. In my house we spent $425 a month on a vehicle last year. This year we were planning on spending a $500 a month on a vehicle. The increase of $75 a month. We agreed that this would only be possible if we got a favorable tax refund. (our Sequester if you will). So if we don't we won't be taking the bus or walking to work - we will just have to live with a car for $425 a month. The same is true for this budget sequester. No services will stop, no one will die and we can function within the current budget terms. Sure I'd like to see the military get the increases they planned on and the same for the TSA but we just can't afford it.
We are currently looking at spending more than $1 trillion dollars than we take in through taxes etc. That is a huge deficit and we can't last very long doing that. Our debt burden is closing in on $17 trillion and we want to spend more? Are our leaders nuts? The world economy is tenuous at best, our recovery (if you can call it a recovery) is shakier than the Harlem Shuffle and our debt rating is on the verge of going down again.
So everyone regardless of political party needs to step up. We are America - lets show the world that we are responsible and mature. lets demand a balanced budget and get our fiscal house in order. If you are not motivated by national pride then do it for your kids and grand kids. I don't care what your motivation is but find it and send our Congress and the president a message - "stop bickering, cut spending and get us a balanced budget". Come on people put politics aside an do the right thing!
And I don't want to hear about all the bad things that will happen to folks if we don't spend more. I know and we should have thought of that when we went crazy and developed the current expenditure model. Yes it will be tough and yes it will be tougher on some than others but guess what that is Democracy! We are not a socialist society and not everyone is entitled to same things - get over it. I want to drive a new 458 Ferrari but i can't afford more than a Nissan. I understand whats its like to have something and then loose it but like good Americans we adjust and move on. We get knocked down in life a lot but what defines us is how we get back up and fight another day - not how much we whine and demand that the wealthy take care of us. Need I remind you that we did that once before in this country it was called slavery! I don't want that so lets stand up and do what is right and lets do it right NOW!