Barack Obama is warning America of the devastation that the sequester will visit upon the country, including
Furloughs of 800,000 civilian Pentagon employees; Meat inspector furloughs from which food shortages will result; Air Traffic Controller furloughs resulting in three-hour waits at airports to clear security; Reductions in embassy protection and border patrols; Cutting the Persian Gulf Naval presence from two aircraft carriers to one; Diminished emergency services; fewer police and firefighters on the streets; Reduced military readiness; Criminals going free because federal prosecutors will have to close cases; Thousands of teacher and educator layoffs Tens of thousands of parents will have to scramble to find child care for their kids; Hundreds of thousands of Americans will lose access to primary care and preventive care like flu vaccinations and cancer screenings; and Job-creating investments in education and energy and medical research.And soon we're likely to hear that global warming will accelerate and comets will strike the Earth if Republicans don't acquiesce to Obama's demands for more taxes. He has hinted that planes will fall from the sky:
"Air traffic controllers and airport security will see cutbacks, which means more delays at airports across the country," Obama continued. "Thousands of teachers and educators will be laid off. Tens of thousands of parents will have to scramble to find child care for their kids. Hundreds of thousands of Americans will lose access to primary care and preventive care like flu vaccinations and cancer screenings."How much is to be "cut"? $85 billion on a budget of $3.6 trillion. That's 2.4%. As of August household income was down 8.2% under Obama and the country had to make do. Now Obama tries to tell us that government can't do with 2.4% less? Seriously?
He has been lying about the sequester since the debates. The sequester was Obama's team's idea:
Page 326 (July 26): At 2:30 p.m., [White House Budget director Jack] Lew and [White House legislative affairs director Rob] Nabors went to the Senate to meet with [Senator Majority Leader Harry] Reid and his chief of staff, David Krone.And since then, Obama continues to double down on the threats of damage the sequester will cause.
“We have an idea for a trigger,” Lew said.
“What’s the idea,” Reid asked skeptically.
“Sequestration.”
Reid bent down and put his head between his knees, almost as if he was going to throw up or was having a heart attack. He sat back up and looked at the ceiling. “A couple of weeks ago,” he said, “my staff said to me that there is one more possible” enforcement mechanism: sequestration. He said he told them, “Get the hell out of here. That’s insane. The White House surely will come up with a plan that will save the day. And you come to me with sequestration?”
Well, it could work, Lew and Nabors explained.
What would the impact be?
They would design it so that half the threatened cuts would be from the Defense Department….The idea was to make all of the threatened cuts so unthinkable and onerous that the supercommittee [tasked with making additional cuts] would do its work and come up with its own deficit reduction plan.
Lew and Nabors went through a laundry list of programs that would face cuts.
“This is ridiculous,” Reid said.
That’s the beauty of a sequester, they said, it’s so ridiculous that no one ever wants it to happen. It was the bomb that no one wanted to drop. It actually would be an action-forcing event.
“I get it,” Reid said finally.
Short version: Once tax increases were off the table, the White House staff came up with a sequestration plan that only had spending cuts and sold Harry Reid on the idea.
(excerpt) Read more at floppingaces.net...
