SEQUESTER SHENNANIGANS

As the dreaded "budget sequester" looms, ever more dire predictions are being issued by Mr. Obama and his flunkies about how deep and awful the impact of this sequester is.  And now that it will probably hit, Obama is constantly talking about the "Republican Sequester" WHEN IN FACT IT WAS HIS FUCKING IDEA TO BEGIN WITH.

 

In fact, back a few months ago he said he wouldn't let the Republicans call off "my" sequester plan without giving him his revenue increases. So he got them, but the cuts were part of the deal. Actually even passing a budget would avert the sequester. But Obama and the Senate Democrats haven't bothered to give the House a budget to authorize. But since the Democrats want "revenue" and the Republicans want "spending cuts", NOW Obama is trying to blame the Republicans for the whole damned train wreck; even though it is Democrat failure to pass a realistic budget that is forcing this thing to a head.

 

And here's another thing: The Democrats and their lamestream drive-by media toadies have been really pumping up tension and anxiety over just how truly awful the aftermath of the "sequester" will be, all of course because of those Scrooge McDuck loving money-hoarding selfish Republicans and conservatives. And it's a big steaming stinking load of donkey shit.

 

This is a classic variation (and extrapolation on ) what is known in political circles as "The Washington Monument Game".  Here is how it is played in its most basic form:

 

Senator A (R-Wherever) has introduced a bill to cut spending and/or taxes. In the debate over the bill, Senator Talkyourearoff Fullofkrapski (D-Soviet Union) rises and gives a long windy dramatic speech about how all the tourist attractions in D.C. will have to be closed down, including the Washington Monument. Done right, this can engender letter-writing campaigns from schoolkids across the country who, albeit being among the most fortunate sould on Earth just by lief of being American citizens; will nevertheless be rendered deprived and scarred for life if the field trip they have planned to the Capital of the Free World be rendered incomplete by a trip to the top of the Monument. News staions nationwide pick up on the angst of tots, and the cuts are averted because nobody wants to see a little kid be disappointed. (And it works, too. How pathetic.)

 

Now in this particular case the Washington Monument has already been closed for over a year now because an earthquake damaged it back in 2011. And it's being restored with private funds, so they can't say the sequester will delay the work. But never fear, the Democrats have a second - and possibly more effective - symbol of the "consequenses" of the sequester. And it comes complete with cute, furry living things like monkeys and polar bears and pandas.

 

Yep, the National Zoological Park of the Smithsonian Institution. Today the Washington Post ran an article about how the sequester might very well force the closing of one or more exhibits, including the Petting Zoo for the kiddies or even - GASP! - THE PANDAS! Oh, damn those evil Republicans! How dare they deprive us of the opportunity to see those cute, cute, pandas! And just because they want to keep the entire country from going bankrupt!  Why, all that needs to be done is take all the money from all those rich people until they're no better off than the rest of us!

 

Well, okay. Let's start with taking the money from Matt Damon, Ellen DeGeneris, Bruce Springsteen, Roseanne Barr, Steven Spielberg, Sean Penn, Madonna, Lady GaGa....

 

What do you mean, "no"?

 

Oh, but here's the best part. First, this sequester is about 115 billion dollars in cuts out of a budget that is always quoted in the lamestream media as being "Three point seven trillion dollars".  This is a bit of deception, somewhat like pricing an item at $99.99 instead of $100 even to make the price seem much smaller by dropping a tenth of a percent off the total. In fact, "3.7 trillion" is THREE THOUSAND SEVEN HUNDRED BILLION. The sequester therefore "cuts" the equivalent of a dollar and fifteen cents out of every thirty seven dollars in the (non-existant) Federal budget.  Big fucking deal.  And even less so when you consider that these "sequester cuts" are not actual cuts in ccurrent expenditures, THEY ARE REDUCTIONS IN THE AMOUNT OF INCREASE THIS YEAR OVER LAST YEAR'S SPENDING!! People, If I am running a restaurant and tell you I am slashing prices effective tomorrow; and you come in the day after and find that the price of a sandwich has gone from three bucks to four and demand an explanation; and I tell you I had been planning to raise the price to five bucks but slashed the planned increase, are you more likely to (a) think I am a swell guy and thank me OR (b) think I am a fraud and a scam artist and organize a tar-and feathering mob??

 

So. A buck thirteen out of thirty dollars. But Obama goes on the TV and radio telling you how many essential people and how many dollars in benefits will be cut, not with charts and graphs but by telling scare stories about half a billion needy people having their food stamps denied or having to lay off all but four air-traffic controllers, etcetera. And he talks as if all these things will happen at once.  In fact Obama and the Democrats are talking about what would happen if ALL of the sequester were applied to any one of the entities or services he mentions; as if 115 billion were going to be cut from EVERY AGENCY AND SERVICE instead of a single "cut" of a TOTAL of $155 billion being applied to them across the board using skillful administration to keep the level of disruption as low as possible.

 

That's not, however, how Obama is going to work this. He is going to try to make this as painful as possible to the largest amount of people possible. He will apportion the "cuts" so as to affect the neediest and most vulnerable, and when the wailing and tears start - and he will consider the cries of hungry kids and the needy music to his ears - he will point to the Republicans and say it is all their fault.

 

In reality, the blame belongs to Barack Hussein Obama. Don't fall for it.  I am authorizing anyone who reads this to copy it and send it to every single government officeholder you can, including Mr. Obama and the leadership of both parties, to show them you have been wised up. DO IT!