Sequestration and federal spending in the real world

My distrust and outright disillusionment with our politicians increases by the hour, the hour being the period during which I receive more e-mails, read more publications and listen to new reports about virtually everything they touch.

Let’s consider the sequestration that is about to happen with regard to federal spending.

The federal government spends about $11 billion a day or $3.818 trillion a year (way more than the revenue it takes in, but you already know that).

If the sequestration goes into effect the immediate impact will be a cut in spending of $85 billion. Do the math and you find that $85 billion is about 2.22% of annual federal spending, two point 2 percent. Ironically that is about the same cut in money available to spend as Americans faced on January 1 when the full Social Security payroll tax was reinstated.

But there’s more, this isn’t a cut in spending, it’s a cut in the growth in spending.

Can any politician look at Americans with a straight face and tell them that the federal government can’t cut spending in 2013 by 2.22% without any serious harm? Heaven forbid that our leaders figure out a way to move the cuts around where they do the most good and the least harm.

Look at it another way and according to the Congressional Budget Office the cuts would require some government agencies and departments to cut their budgets by 5% or more, yikes a whole 5%!

Here are a few minor illustrative suggestions for cuts. How about eliminating the $7,500 given to buyers of the Chevy Volt whose reported average income is over $170,000 per year? The proposed Obama budget wants that to increase to $10,000. How about cutting other subsidies for all the other things the President is pushing? There will be time for that later as the economy grows or the demand for such programs will make the subsidies unnecessary. How about closing military bases the Pentagon no longer needs or wants, but are open only because Congress refuses to act? How about stopping grants to other countries to study this or that unrelated to the interest of the U.S.? The list of ways to come up with $85 billion is virtually endless and certainly does not include laying off police officers, school teachers or firefighters.

The American people continue to be the victims of ideology and power plays, positioning for control and the self-interest of the political parties. If you did your job with such incompetence and self-interest (being the next election) you would be fired in a minute. Instead we re-elect these people again and again and tolerate the incompetence year after year.

“We have met the enemy and he is us!” Pogo