Asylums within asylums. There is no greater concentration of insanity than in the asylum known as the federal government of the United States of America located in Washington D.C. The players play and the payers pay.
The battle over the so-called “Sequestration” is a bad joke and the joke is on is being played on you, America.
The President, the Democrats, and their propaganda machine, the MSM, are wringing their hands saying that the “spending cuts” in the sequestration package would devastate our economy. THERE ARE NO SPENDING CUTS! Not to any department in government, including the Department of Defense. Every department will get more money to spend in each and every year of the ten-year budget. The increases would be smaller than they would be if the “sequestration” were not now the law of the land.
Let’s make it simple. The national debt is currently about $16.7 trillion. In ten years, without the sequestration reductions in spending, the national debt will be about $ 27 trillion. If the sequestration spending reductions are allowed to take place, the national debt in ten years will be about $26 trillion. THERE ARE NO SPENDING CUTS! But, that is not what Americans will be told.
The Trap Is Set
The President and the Democrats can’t lose. The Republicans and America can’t win.
The President is on the campaign trail telling Americans that if the Republicans insist on letting the “terrible” sequestration spending reductions” take place, Teacher will be at risk of losing their jobs, first responders will be at risk of losing their jobs, and little children will be kicked out of their head start programs.
But, why if there are no real spending cuts would those terrible things happen? Because the President and the MSM will not tell America the truth. The only Americans who will know the truth are those that write and/or follow conservative blogs. And, here is the kicker. If the sequestration spending reduction happen, he, as head of the Executive Branch of government, will make sure those terrible things happen and he and the MSM will blame it all on the Republicans. The Republicans will scream foul, but no one will hear them. The MSM will drown them out. And, just in case the MSM isn’t biased enough, David Axelrod has just signed on as a political analyst for NBC and MSNBC. The Republican control of the House would be in jeopardy in 2014.
President Obama might let the Republicans off that hook if they are willing to use a “balanced” approach to reducing deficits. The President will offer to accept half the spending reductions if the Republicans agree to close tax loopholes, there by increasing tax revenues (more money to spend). The President will remind Mr. Boehner that the loopholes he wants to cut are the same ones that he (Boehner) offered once before. If Boehner resists, the President will resort to the tactic that worked so well during the election campaign: the Republicans only want to protect the rich. And, the President has some new ammunition. He will claim the Republicans think it is just fine that Facebook makes a billioon dollars and not only does not pay any income tax, they get a refund of $429 million.
And, that, dear friends, is how the asylum in Washington works. Knowing how to play politics, allows the most incompetent man to ever hold the Office of the President to keep on winning. Get out the Vaseline, America, you are about to get the shaft again!
Weill, that’s what I’m thinking. What are your thoughts?
Asylum Watch 
His lies so much I wonder if he even recognizes it anymore. Once a community organizer always one.
He may not have been much of a student at university but he was the star pupil of Alinsky.
Let no stone be unturned for the greater glory of socialism I think Obama’s goal IS to bankrupt the US so he can blame it on the evil rich and then raise taxes (not for his friends of course, who are the “good” rich.”
Players and payers, my friend.
“The people” get screwed and they don’t even know it. Not only they don’t know it but they probably ask for more in the next election.
I am not much of a Don Quijote as you are, Professor, and I think that people get what they deserve (by being stupid they deserve it). There is only one problem with my position; the ‘stupids’ drag us all along with them because of the “democratic” system. Conclusion: Winston Churchill was only right by half, “democracy is the worst form of government [the right part], except all the others that have been tried [the wrong part]”.
That’s me, Don Quijote, only my windmills really are evil.
You are a realistic Don Quijote, Prof. The only common thread is your romanticism. Your only windmill is trying to change the people into reasonable beings. Perhaps you are into something and I’m missing the fact that the satisfaction comes from trying and not from achieving.
(Nobody so far has told me that I misspelled Quijote, [Hi, hi, hi])
The sad reality is that sequestration is a pittance compared to the overall federal budget. It is only an $85B reduction in spending in a $3.8T budget this year.
That works out to a paltry 2.2% reduction in federal spending this year. It isn’t spread out evenly, but could be and then no jobs would be lost. anywhere.
Calling that a “meat cleaver” approach to deficit reduction is a gross misrepresentation of the truth. The president is using the usual fear-mongering tactics to attack even the tiniest bit of fiscal responsibility.
In 2011 the federal government erroneously made $115B in OVER-PAYMENTS (mostly in entitlements).
The entire sequestor could be paid for with money left over if the federal government just corrected its wasteful billing errors!!!
Exactly!
Funny that you should mention the over-payments of entitlements by the federal government. I was talking to my older brother earlier this month and he was telling me a story that was somewhat funny.
He is retired and a veteran of Desert Storm. He had a hearing test done and the VA calculated he was a certain percentage disabled (not sure how much) because of hearing loss. As a result, they increased his retirement check by a few dollars, not very much. The same month he received the first increase, he also received a notice from Social Security that informed him his SS check was being reduced by exactly the amount of the increase in his military retirement.
My point is this. If the government is so adept at catching something as small as that, why do they have so much trouble stopping over-payments to the tune of $115 billion?
That’s a good question, Larry.
Btw… I agree that the sequestration “cut” isn’t really a spending cut at all given that its amount is less than the yearly growth rate already built into the federal budget.
Like ever other “spending cut” before it, it is really a reduction in the growth rate of spending, not an actual reduction in spending.
Politicians lie and America dies! If sequestration is as bad as Obama claims it is why did he propose it in the first place? The answer is obvious to me, he knows he can play this game and the American people will fall in line and blame the Republicans if his own policy is enacted. The man is a master politician and he is beating the Republicans and the American people at every turn.
Obama cares only about his agenda. America be damned. If the sequestraion spending reductions go through, Obama will make sure that innocent people needlessly suffer and get angry at Republicans. The media will be only to glad to go along him.
Considering the fact that so many Americans so readily believe his lies, it makes me wonder if Obama is the Pied Piper of our time.
But the Piper was collecting his due. What is that Obama thinks we owe him?
He hasn’t been specific about that. All he knows is that we owe him and his kind. And to any liberal who reads that statement, no, it wasn’t a racial slur. By him and his kind, I mean liberals, not blacks.
I only wish the sequestration had been set up as across the board cuts to every area of the budget. The amount in question is paltry and is only good for the political theater we are now watching.
It is only a small slow down in spending growth. But, if it goes through, Obama will cut things that hurt people and put the blame on the Republicans and the unengaged voters will believe him.
How much can this president do toward lower our standing in the world, make us more vulnerable to attack at maybe the most dangerous time in our history, and lower morale by doing so? Sure! Tell the WORLD we’ll have the smallest navy since 1915! Convince Americans we’re better off as a leaner fighting machine. WHAT?
And, meanwhile, the sixteen trillion became sixteen and a half trillion…..and his voters are just glad for their free lousy health care and free cell phones.
WAKE UP AMERICA>..it can’t be only Conservatives who’re rightfully worried! That’s not fair and not effective!
“Hanoi” John Kerry, our illustrious Secretary of States say the greatest threat to the United States is the House GOP. That is another way of saying that we conservatives are the threat.
Well, I’m a bit confused at to what precisely your arguments are. You say that “there are no spending cuts”, this is a “trap” set by Omama and Dems, and I’m not real sure where you stand on closing loopholes and corporate welfare. I don’t know where to start.
The sequester is a result of an unprecedented Republican threat to block what was once a routine debt ceiling increase (17 times under Ronald Reagan , 7 times under President GWB, and 4 times each under Clinton and GWHB) needed to avoid an economic catastrophe. There seems to be a rather disingenuous argument coming from many conservative blogs (where as you say, Americans must follow to acquire the truth) that we must destroy the village in order to save it, wanting those who benefit to thank the GOP while wanting the villagers that go down in flames to blame President Obama, who “owns it”. That snake oil may work on a few “low informed voters” but the cold cruel reality is the House vote on the Budget Control Act. The roll call show us 218 Republicans voted for it while not a single Democrat voted for it. The numbers simply don’t support that “you own this” mantra.
Your very own math disproves your claim that there’s no spending cuts. Macroeconomic Advisers predicts the sequester will shrink .7% of GDP growth this year. The Bipartisan Policy Center predicts it will kill over 1 million jobs. Center for American Progress economist Adam Hersh says “we will have slower economic growth and job creation this year and in the future” as a result.
I could write volumes on this but simply put, we’ve tried the Bush tax cut/trickle down plan for well over a decade and it’s been proven to be an abject failure. History speaks for itself as Ronald Reagan tripled the national debt, GWHB doubled that, Clinton saw a 44% increase,, and George W. Bush doubled doubled it, dumping an economy in free fall in Obama’s lap. The GOP’s response has been to filibuster any and every effort to help the economy, even policies they’ve supported for years, all with a clear admission of insuring Obama to be a “one term president”. Even today, they continue to filibuster the American Jobs Act which would create anywhere from 1 to 3 million jobs and boost the GDP anywhere from 1.5 to 2.5%. Your predicted demise of the GOP’s House seats is indeed a very product of their own making.
I’m sure Jim is well capable of replying to your comment, but let me give it a shot. To start with, let me ask a question. If Reagan is responsible for the increase of the national debt during his presidency, etc. etc., why is it that Obama isn’t responsible for the increase during his first four years in office? By my count, he has increased it more in four years than George W. Bush did in eight. Why does he not take responsibility for that, instead of blaming everyone else?
As for your numbers on the sequester, you can pull your hyperbole math from liberal organizations all you want, but that doesn’t change the facts. The sequester does not cut a single dollar in real spending. All it does is to cut the amount of growth that is automatically built into the federal budget that never seems to get passed, even though it is federal law.
You’re right. You are confused.
Well, obviously spirited or challenging debate isn’t welcomed here as my responses continue to be deleted. With that, I’ll tip my hat and show myself to the door.