L.A. Times Scares Readers Re Those Awful Sequestration Non-Cut “Cuts”
The top article on the L.A. Times web page is a scare story about how awfully awfully terrible those horrible sequester “cuts” (which are not really cuts) will be:
When it comes to the nation’s debt, payback time might be here.
Years of low tax rates and rising federal spending, amplified by the devastating economic effect of the Great Recession, have driven the U.S. borrowing tab to more than $16 trillion from less than $1 trillion in 1981.
Deficit reduction has become the dominant issue in Washington. The first major tax increase since 1993 took place last month. And large automatic spending cuts — $1.2 trillion over the next decade — are set to kick in Friday.
Oh, the drama. Why not just say it’s $200 quintillion over 30 years? Ginormous “cuts” in the future that will never happen are a fiction, and the L.A. Times treats them like fact. But it’s a joke. You can’t control anything past this year, and Marc Thiessen explains what’s really going on this year:
The problem with the sequester is not the amount of cuts it requires. Cuts of $85 billion this year is about 2 percent of our $3.5 trillion federal budget, or about nine days of federal spending. Even after the sequester, we will still spend about $15 billion more this year than we did in last year. The sequester does not actually “cut” spending — it simply slows its growth.
At no point does the L.A. Times story put the “cuts” in their proper context — that they aren’t even cuts from last year’s spending. Instead, it’s Scare City:
In addition, government officials said the looming spending cuts would affect most federal programs. The effect would be widespread, hitting state and local programs that depend on federal aid and businesses with government contracts.
But some would directly affect the general public, with the furloughing of government workers leading to fewer food safety inspections, reduced hours at national parks and longer waits at airports.
For example, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said the $600-million cut facing the Federal Aviation Administration’s 2013 budget would force the agency to furlough the “vast majority” of its 47,000 employees for at least one day every two-week pay period, reducing staffing at airports and forcing the closure of 100 small air traffic control towers starting around April 1.
“This is very painful for us because it involves our employees, but it’s going to be very painful for the flying public,” LaHood told reporters Friday.
Also, we’re told, the federal government spending less is somehow supposed to hurt the economy:
But Democrats and Republicans, along with many analysts, said the indiscriminate nature of the budget cuts make them a bad move right now when the economy still is struggling to grow.
This is how people stay “informed.” By reading garbage like this.
We have to change it, somehow.
Utimately, the “pain of the sequester” will show that the Obama Administration doesn’t know how to govern.
Neo (d1c681) — 2/25/2013 @ 7:53 amIt’s just a propaganda piece and part of the overall in-Obamas-pocket media strategy to push the Democrat Party line 24/7.
You could do with “newspaper” headlines and articles what Rush Limbuagh does with DNC Media sound clips, where he shows all the big “news” networks parroting the same Democrat Party propaganda talking points by stringing each of them together in one clip.
SGT Ted (506d69) — 2/25/2013 @ 7:54 amthe difference between what the LA Times is saying and what Meghan’s coward daddy is saying is very very subtle and nuanced I imagine
happyfeet (acd614) — 2/25/2013 @ 7:56 amBut Democrats and Republicans, along with many analysts, said the indiscriminate nature of the budget cuts make them a bad move right now when the economy still is struggling to grow.
But continuing the massive indiscriminate overspending forever is preferable.
mhmm.
SGT Ted (506d69) — 2/25/2013 @ 7:56 amIt’s Vizzini all the way down;
http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/02/24/3251825/white-house-warns-again-of-budget.html
narciso (3fec35) — 2/25/2013 @ 7:59 amIf the LAT had to actually tell the Truth, the Whole Truth, and Nothing But the Truth….
Well, it would be Armageddon – the ground at Spring Street would open up and swallow the entire building.
Now, we can’t have that, can we?
(Jack Benny response)
I’m thinking, I’m thinking!
askeptic (b8ab92) — 2/25/2013 @ 8:27 amAnd those meanies in the Pentagon have threatened to shut-down the Executive Transport Squadron at Andrews AFB, forcing Kongresskritters to fly commercial on their many junkets.
Oh, the Humanity!
askeptic (b8ab92) — 2/25/2013 @ 8:29 amIf Jamie Foxx’s “Lord and Savior” doesn’t extract sufficient tithing from the one percent the world will end by the middle of May.
Steve57 (60a887) — 2/25/2013 @ 8:34 amYou know, it’s like ‘They Live’ but it’s out in the open,
narciso (3fec35) — 2/25/2013 @ 8:35 amThe LA Times is just thrilled they have some Republicans to quote supporting Obama.
SGT Ted (506d69) — 2/25/2013 @ 8:56 amThe politicians, especially this administration, will try to make the next month as painful as possible. That’s what politicians do when the voters don’t do as they are told. In Chicago, the potholes don’t get fixed.
Mike K (dc6ffe) — 2/25/2013 @ 9:45 amFrom the daily Beast/Newsweek:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/02/22/8-ways-the-sequester-could-ruin-your-life.html?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=cheatsheet_morning&cid=newsletter%3Bemail%3Bcheatsheet_morning&utm_term=Cheat%20Sheet
Sammy Finkelman (d22d64) — 2/25/2013 @ 11:29 amYou can rest assured too that the Slimes has already written the sob stories of “the children” who are dying of starvation in the streets that will appear Friday.
Saturday, Sunday edition will be All Catastrophe, All the Time!
Patricia (be0117) — 2/25/2013 @ 11:36 am“L.A. Times Scares Readers Re Those Awful Sequestration Non-Cut “Cuts””
Really? You think that thee L.A. Times has more than one reader?
C. S. P. Schofield (adb9dd) — 2/25/2013 @ 11:44 amGlenn linked to a Reason post that showed that the OMB’s list of affected agencies included one that had shut down in June of 2012.
Incompetence and lies.
Its all that Obama has to offer.
SPQR (768505) — 2/25/2013 @ 11:52 amIt’s a floor wax and a desert topping;
http://dailycaller.com/2013/02/25/wh-says-sequester-will-slow-down-oil-and-gas-permitting/
narciso (3fec35) — 2/25/2013 @ 12:22 pmWhat more cuts ?
It’s been only two weeks since Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-NY) introduced H.R.747 “To amend the Military Selective Service Act to require the registration of women with the Selective Service System” and now, they want to get rid of the draft completely …
WASHINGTON—Two lawmakers are waging a little-noticed campaign to abolish the Selective Service System, the independent federal agency that manages draft registration.
They say the millions of dollars the agency spends each year preparing for the possibility of a military draft is a waste of money.
Reps. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., and Rep. Mike Coffman, R-Colo., say the Pentagon has no interest in returning to conscription due to the success of the all-volunteer force.
Neo (d1c681) — 2/25/2013 @ 1:25 pmOK, here’s how ferociously squeaky tight the Obama economic ship is being run in these fearsome days of sequester. Today I got a postcard in the mail fom the USDA written in English and Spanish. Its opening paragraph reads:
Attention Hispanic and Women Farmers and Ranchers! If you or someone you know believe that the USDA has improperly denied you farm loan benefits between 1981 and 2000 because you are Hispanic or female, you may be eligible to apply for compensation. For guidance you may contact an attorney or other legal service provider.
No, I am not Hispanic. No, I have never had or sought a farm loan from anywhere in my life. Yes, after the Pigford givaways they are now out actively looking/begging for more “victims” from a different constituency whose votes they can buy. WTF.
elissa (20ddf6) — 2/25/2013 @ 2:10 pmJust think how much different California politics would be in 10 years if the Times was bought out by a center-right group. I understand it’s for sale by the Tribune Co receiver.
Kevin M (bf8ad7) — 2/25/2013 @ 2:23 pmOne thought: Jerry Brown would never act like Obama does. He’d insist he could make the sequestration workable. That’s what he did after Proposition 13.
Sammy Finkelman (d22d64) — 2/25/2013 @ 2:39 pmI remember, back around 1996 or so, when the Dems wanted to raise funding for some program (I THINK it was Medicare) by 7 percent. The Repubs, on the other hand, favored a more modest 3 percent increase.
So, of course, the MSM reported that the Repubs were going to cut the program by 4 percent.
What would we do without such an impartial media to help us make informed decisions?
Whitey Nisson (0a4839) — 2/25/2013 @ 2:52 pmCourtesy of Monty at Ace’s the joke is on everyone:
http://www.city-journal.org/2013/23_1_calpers.html
I predict everyone has no sense of humor.
gary gulrud (dd7d4e) — 2/25/2013 @ 3:05 pm15. LOL, and humor too!
gary gulrud (dd7d4e) — 2/25/2013 @ 3:19 pmComment by Sammy Finkelman (d22d64) — 2/25/2013 @ 2:39 pm
All he did is to funnel all the funding through Sacramento (the Serrano v. Priest decision had something to do with that also) so that their sticky fingers “could wet their beak”, and to make local districts more dependent upon the State, diminishing local control.
askeptic (b8ab92) — 2/25/2013 @ 3:38 pmHere in LaLa-Land, that is not known as “making Prop-13 work”.
there must be some enabling legislation somewheres
you would think
here’s a little more detail
is this english?
not sure what that means exactly
the “in cash” is a nice classy touch though I think
happyfeet (4bf7c2) — 2/25/2013 @ 4:15 pmOh, I could use some cash, Mr. Feets. The postcard dint mention cash.
elissa (64f0a8) — 2/25/2013 @ 4:43 pmnothing like a lil walking around money to redress the social injustice I say
happyfeet (4bf7c2) — 2/25/2013 @ 4:52 pmWhat is Thiessen’s cite for this?
Michael Ejercito (2e0217) — 2/25/2013 @ 4:55 pm” He’d insist he could make the sequestration workable. That’s what he did after Proposition 13.”
That’s what he did AFTER it passed. Before, he was in doom mode just like Obama.
Mike K (dc6ffe) — 2/25/2013 @ 6:52 pmWhat is Thiessen’s cite for this?
I’ve heard it said by various people, including rep john campbell from ca
here is a link to a graph I’ve seen elsewhere reportedly from the CBO
http://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/2013/02/25/earth-to-new-york-times-please-show-us-these-deep-spending-cuts-you-keep-writing-about/
MD in Philly (3d3f72) — 2/25/2013 @ 7:01 pmJerry Brown allowed public-employees to form unions, which pretty much put paid to Prop 13 working (or much else).
Kevin M (bf8ad7) — 2/25/2013 @ 7:39 pmThe other interesting way in which Jerry Brown is involved in all of this has to do with his projections that California would enjoy a budget surplus this year after we decided to raise our taxes. Now, with the sequestration, we might be back in the red. Of course, there were some signs out there that the alleged surplus wasn’t going to happen anyway.
But hey, this just gives California Democrats a reason to blame Republicans for the failures of our state. Even when we are down to the one last remaining Republican in the Golden State, he’ll still be the source of all the ills that plague us according to the leftist cabal that runs things here.
JVW (4826a9) — 2/25/2013 @ 8:39 pmthat whole Romney for president thing was just stupid whose idea was that
and now I heard he wants to come back and do stupid cable news interviews like anyone cares what you think you big stupid loser
I’m not watching and if anyone tries to tell me about I’ll say
pull my finger
happyfeet (acd614) — 2/25/2013 @ 8:59 pmtell me about *it* i mean
happyfeet (acd614) — 2/25/2013 @ 9:00 pmThe top article on the L.A. Times web page is a scare story
I’d rather see posts on how many or how few pages of advertising are still being generated in the typical print edition of the Los Angeles Times. And then laugh and point fingers at the businesses stupid enough to waste their dollars by promoting their goods or services in that greenhouse-creating, enviro-unfriendly piece of crud.
I know it’s not nice to wish the fast demise of a company like the LA Times, and all those who get their paychecks from it. But I can be a jerk about the whole thing, because, regrettably, although I think that newspaper will be floundering indefinitely, it nonetheless, out of sheer habit, will never collapse and close up shop. But I can dream, can’t I?
Mark (7b9a12) — 2/25/2013 @ 9:38 pmYes, Calpers has become just another political slush fund.
Now they are going to lend out $800 million for infrastructure projects. Bullet train? Water tunnels under Sacramento?
Something tells me this will not end well.
Patricia (be0117) — 2/25/2013 @ 9:47 pmLet’s be honest here. $3.5 Trillion is not quite the right number. Remove from consideration all the entitlements, the “mandatory” portion of the budget. That leaves about $1.3 Trillion that is being reduced by $85 billion. That’s a 6.5% decrease.
Of course, that’s about 1/20th of what might balance the budget leading to no increased debt.
But since that step would eliminate the EPA, NLRB, and many other disablers of business one could expect an almost immediate up turn in business leading to increased tax revenues. So the “entire” discretionary budget might not have to be wiped out.
Probably national defense could survive with modest cuts and a few other essential, according to direct requirements in the Constitution, parts of the government might remain. So in the end the elderly will probably have to shoulder their part of the burden to some modest extent, say a 1% or 2% (max) cut.
Just remember that the sequester, this year, is a neither large nor negligible 6.5% of discretionary spending.
{^_^}
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Sucks to be you.
gary gulrud (dd7d4e) — 2/26/2013 @ 6:09 amYes, they’ve been cutting defense contractors since 2010, the only area where they really have cut,
narciso (3fec35) — 2/26/2013 @ 6:33 amJust to give it a World War Z quality;
http://www.jammiewf.com/2013/obama-releases-waves-of-illegal-aliens-from-holding-centers/
narciso (3fec35) — 2/26/2013 @ 6:36 am39. I guess the looming shutdown is Doom’s Day.
I await the seventh seal rending.
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Reklama w Internecie (ffa738) — 2/26/2013 @ 11:11 am” 2/26/2013 @ 5:21 am”
I love the comic strip too! And that crazy large reddish Great Dane? He’s a riot of laughter! Such trouble he always gets into.
SPQR (768505) — 2/26/2013 @ 11:29 amNothing has replaced Calvin and Hobbes, though Get Fuzzy is often funny.
MD in Philly (3d3f72) — 2/26/2013 @ 11:44 amIndeed, Calvin and Hobbes is sorely missed. Especially as, to return to topic, we see the White House playing Calvinball.
SPQR (768505) — 2/26/2013 @ 11:46 amOur oldest son once did a Calvin when he was about 3. My wife felt a sudden sharp pain in her thigh and looked down to see tooth marks and a smiling little boy who said, “Dinosaur, mommy!”
MD in Philly (3d3f72) — 2/26/2013 @ 11:59 amEspecially cartoons #2 and 4
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2013/02/the-mid-week-in-pictures.php
Cartoon #2 should be on billboards and T-shirts everywhere
MD in Philly (3d3f72) — 2/26/2013 @ 12:09 pm