We have a “crisis” looming on the horizon.
On March 1, “sequestration” goes into effect and will take a “meat cleaver” to government services, our president claims.
When I first heard about sequestration, Congress and the president were bickering over raising the debt ceiling — and the need for raising revenue and making genuine cuts in government spending. As of today, the United States is borrowing $50,000 per second, according to Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky.
So the president and his advisors came up with the idea of “sequestration” — making huge cuts in government spending automatically without congressional bickering. In 2011, the March 1, 2013 deadline for making sensible cuts would pass and this mindless measure would go into effect unless each side compromised and came up with a workable solution.
To make Republicans more likely to negotiate, half of the $1.2 trillion in cuts, a sum of $600 billion, would come from defense. The other $600 billion would come from domestic programs, such as entitlements — a provision distasteful to congressional Democrats.
No one on either side believed March 1 would ever really come. Republicans would negotiate because they are minions of the military-industrial complex, as well as lackeys of big business. Democrats would negotiate because they are the servants of special interests who play the race card and promote gay rights, as well as making sure illegal aliens have health care and social security benefits.
Do I understand the way each side characterizes the other?
Now, S-Day is coming.
“The sky is falling! The sky is falling!” shouts our governmental Chicken Littles.
The president reeled off a host of the bad effects of sequestration cuts: fewer TSA agents to grope us through security lines and fewer air traffic controllers, hence airline delays. Fewer FBI and border security agents. The list continues: fewer teachers, fewer firefighters, fewer police officers, fewer day cares. I think the only thing he left out was “human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together.”
The last time I checked, the vast majority of teachers, firefighters and police officers are either local or state employees. Most daycare operators are private. How will cutting federal spending have such a dire impact on these local, state and private employees?
Do I really hear strains of “It’s the end of the world as we know it” playing in the background?
In reality, how much will this year’s cuts be?
The actual figure is $85 billion. If the 50-50 proposition holds, then $42.5 each would come from the pet interests of Repubs and Dems. That $85 billion represents 2.5 percent of federal spending for this fiscal year.
Let’s translate this figure to household terms. A worker is earning $500 a week. What is a 2.5 percent reduction in $500? Do the math: $12.50. So instead of earning $500 a week, then person now earns $487.50.
Hardly Armageddon.
The plain fact is that sequestration will not even cut the federal budget. These cuts will only slow the growth of federal spending. The boys and girls in DC will still need to borrow $48,750 every second to cover their spending spree.
Does anyone with a working brain believe our bloated government cannot withstand a 2.5 percent reduction? I venture to propose that our obese budget could stand a 10-percent cut without significant impact.
The federal government is too big, too intrusive, too costly, too tax-happy, too spend-happy, and too insensitive to the concerns of the working people of this country. Officials on both sides use our money to buy our votes — and then act like we are too dumb to notice.
Maybe we are.
Sequestration is a weak start, but at least the process is a start.
Bring it on.
Mike Parker is a columnist for The Free Press. You can reach him at mparker16@suddenlink.net or in care of this newspaper.