Sequestration and it's effects on YOU

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   wildernessposted 12 years ago

   I just got notice that my unemployment insurance will be cut 10.7%, indefinitely.  My son, working for the Bureau of Reclamation, is picking up the work of an employee that will not be hired to fill a vacant spot in his office.  Federal agencies were prepared to require all employees to take a 20% cut, by taking an unpaid day off per week.  I haven't heard yet if congress will keep their salaries or take a cut - Ms Pelosi has declared it is beneath their dignity to do so and was against sharing the pain that she helped cause; there is little doubt that many will share her opinion.
   
   Has sequestration directly affected you yet?

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      Barefootfaeposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      No...
      
      
      Because I work in the private sector.

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         wildernessposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Lucky you.  I guess time will tell if puts the country "back" into a tailspin and your business dies as a result.

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            Barefootfaeposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            I think not...

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               wildernessposted 12 years agoin reply to this

               I agree, and actually think that it could speed up the economy some if business is convinced that they will actually DO something about out of control spending.  We'll see.

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                  Barefootfaeposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                  The administration was given the ability to control what was cut...they declined and have been reported as wanting it to be as painful as possible.
                  
                  In what way is that not tyranny?

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                     wildernessposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                     I would almost agree with making it painful.  If that what it takes to get the people that refuse to do their job out of the Congressional halls it would be worth the pain.
                     
                     But it's not tyranny - it's just normal American politics, people using whatever works to force their ideals onto others and hang the cost to the people.

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   psycheskinnerposted 12 years ago

   I am sad about some of the research lines that will tap out, especially the ones into neurological conditions.  Odds are I will have Altzheimer's one day, and I am hoping they will have a treatment by then.  This is looking less and less likely.

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      wildernessposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Yes, we'll probably lose some research.  It's always to point to a study of something or other and make fun of it, make it sound ridiculous or worthless, but pure research pays off far more than it flops.

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   psycheskinnerposted 12 years ago

   That is, as everyone knows, because this flat cut was meant to be a boogey man the parties cooperated to avoid.
   
   Oops.

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      wildernessposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Didn't work, did it?  And if congress doesn't share in the pain it will have an even lower chance of working next time.  And you can be sure there will be another "fiscal cliff" to fall off of - those idiots can't cooperate if their life depended on it.
      
      I really hope we hear, one way or another, whether congressional members are taking a pay cut with the rest of us.

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   American Viewposted 12 years ago

   Wilderness,
   
   I am truly sorry to hear how sequestration is effecting you and your family. But these effects are happening for one reason only, Obama wants to play bully. He wants America to hurt so he can go out there and say "do not oppose me again".
   
   Let's be realistic now, Obama and company are claiming they have to make drastic cuts of between 3% and 5% across-the-board in order to meet the $85 billion in cuts needed this year. Get out your calculators and enter $3.8 trillion,which is the amount of money we spent last, and multiply it by 3%. You're going to get an answer way in access of $85 billion. So as you can see the cuts are not as drastic as the Liberals want you to think they are. Once more just trying to instill fear in the people.
   
   I noticed the one comments about research money and how people make fun of it, trying to degraded and make it sound like it is waste and we should not be spending our money on it. Then of course has to interject a little of fear by trying to tell you cutting research will leave us all to die..Well let's check out some of the research in spending that was done in 2012:
   
   $200 million on a reality TV show in India that advertised US cotton
   
   The EPA gave 1.2 main dollars to China, in other words our tax dollars being spent in a foreign country, to study swine manure, or in layman's terms, pig Poop.
   
   Subsidized Amtrak $84.5 million last year and 833.8 million over the past 10 years for snacks.
   
   To try and push the green energy agenda and biofuels, the U.S. Navy bought 450,000 gallons of biofuels to use on a military exercise. Cost $12 million or $27 per gallon.
   
   $325,000 on a robotic squirrel to study how a rattlesnake would react to it.
   
   Smuttynose brewery which profited over $6 million last year was given a $750,000 grant to extend its brewery.
   
   $520,000 to restore the Stevenson Road covered bridge in Greene County Ohio which has no road and the walking path to it and was last used in 2003
   
   The CBO published a book"budget options"after a quest of Pres. Obama identifying more than $100 billion in spending cuts, none of which would result in layoffs with salary cuts.
   
   The Securities and Exchange Commission spent $3.9 million rearranging desks  in its  Washington DC headquarters.
   
   The Pentagon spent $1 million shipping two 19 cent washers from South Carolina to Texas and then spent $300,000 on a nine cent washer shipped from South Carolina to Florida.
   a GAL audit found that 95 Pentagon weapons systems programs suffered from a combined $395 billion in cost overruns.
   
   $200,000 for tattoo removal program in Mission Hills California.
   
   $500,000 to Alaska airlines to paint a Chinook salmon on the side of a Boeing 737.
   
   The national Institute of health spends $1.3 million per month to rent a lab that I cannot use.
   
   USDA spent $300,000 on television ads telling Americans to eat caviar.
   
   $500,000 to rehab a privately owned yacht used only by the city officials of Los Angeles California.
   
   This $450,000 per year to Oklahoma of keeping unused airport that has one runway and no planes.
   
   $27 million for Moroccan pottery classes.
   
   $1 million to NASA to research and create a Mars menu.
   
   $516,000 to the National Science Foundation to create a videogame so that you could relive prom week online. Yeah I can see how this one is going to cure somebody's disease.
   
   Department of Energy gave Russia $15 million to recruit new scientists from with n the United States.So now were paying foreign countries to recruit our own scientists away from us.
   
   Obama's free phones $2.5 billion
   
   $450,000 a study so that golf for scanning vision a bigger hole.
   
   Six $150,000 free bus rides for the Super Bowl attendees.
   
   $700,000 of science research dollars to go to a musical about biodiversity and climate change.
   
   $110,000 to the department of health and human services on a YouTube video contest on fruits and veggies.
   
   $322 million on a courthouse design, they broke ground for construction then change their minds and decided not to build it.
   
   $700,000 for the Pentagon to do research to create their own beef jerky.
   
   There are literally many thousands more of the stupid expenditures. The point is it is so easy to make $85 billion in cuts from this spending that in reality it will affect nothing. Everybody needs to e-mail their local representatives. Do it once a day, do it twice a day, let them know that you expect them to stand up and overturn all the frivolous and hateful cuts Obama is putting in place. They need to protect the workers and make the cuts in many useless places that several of these we mentioned here. Because if you don't and you allow Obama to have his temper tantrum here, just wait to see what's next.

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      wildernessposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      About the only thing I would disagree with is that Obama is doing all those things and is the cause of the sequester.
      
      The sequester was voted into law by congress and Obama has to follow it.  The massive pork and frivolous spending you list was voted into the budget by congress, not Obama.  True, Obama promoted the biggest of all - obamacare - but it was congress that voted it in.
      
      And the bottom line is that congress failing to do their job is what brought sequestration into action, nothing Obama did had any effect on that.

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         American Viewposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Wilderness,
         
         We do not mistake who I blame and why when it comes to sequestration. The fact is sequestration was Obama's proposal, he put before Congress and they voted to approve it. In my opinion sequestration is the fault of every body in Washington, not just because it happens but because of the many years of overspending that led us here. While Obama may be creating more debt a faster pace than ever and spending more money at a higher percentage than ever, he's not the sole reason for all this debt, it started long before he became president.
         
         What I do solely blame on Pres. Obama is the way he is going about his 85 billion in cuts. Multiple e-mails from different departments have surfaced instructing to make sure the cuts hurt, if Obama was truly for the American people or the middle class, he would not be making moves like the ones that are affecting you personally. That is why I pointed out to several items here were cuts could be made in not affect anybody's salary or benefits, no layoffs, no furloughs.

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            wildernessposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            About the only cut that won't hurt some American is a cut to straight cash gifts overseas.  Everything will hit somebody's pocketbook.
            
            But the question becomes one of results, too.  Will the people become angry enough at a congress refusing to do their job to vote them out of office?  I doubt it, but if using sequestration would remove the slime from office that is wasting my hard earned money buying votes for themselves I'll gladly give up a little extra.

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               Education Answerposted 12 years agoin reply to this

               wilderness,
               
               I concur.  I'd rather give something up than allow slimy politicians to keep getting elected.  Your point is well received.  Politicians spend and spend, so they can get elected.  It's easy to spend your way into office by giving more and more money and favors to your constituents.

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                  wildernessposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                  So I see it.  We're all going to be hurt before the US pulls itself out of this spending spree and becomes solvent again - the sooner it starts the less it will hurt.  Go ahead and do it, Mr/Mrs. Politician, but don't expect to keep your job when the dust settles.

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                     Education Answerposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                     I heard that the Great Depression, the fall of the Roman Empire, Kennedy's assassination, the debt, Jesus's crucifixion, the extinction of the dinosaurs, the bankruptcy of Duesenberg cars, and the high price of milk are all caused by the sequester.  That darn sequester.  It even made the sky less blue.  The sequester is responsible for so much.  It used to be because of Bush, but now it's because of the sequester.  I forgot, the sequester also caused cancer.  Man, it's bad, bad news.  The sequester has caused so much grief and turmoil.  What will we do now?

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                        wildernessposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                        I know!  It has even made my traffic fall, even though we all know Google has all my hubs as #1!  What can I do?

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