Obama using his own sequester to fear monger - don’t buy into it

If the Democrats are to be believed, we're headed for a fiscal armegaddon. Should the oh-so-evil Republicans in Congress allow the sequester to happen, there's simply no end to the havoc it will wreak.

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As President Obama put it, "These cuts are not smart. They are not fair. They will hurt our economy. They will add hundreds of thousands of Americans to the unemployment rolls. This is not an abstraction -- people will lose their jobs. The unemployment rate might tick up again." Never mind that, for the week ending February 16th, the Department of labor is showing that weekly unemployment numbers are already going up. Please ignore the smallest labor force since 1981 and the fact that a shrinking fourth quarter GDP shows the economy is already contracting. Obama has a political point to make, so don't look at his record. The sequester is where it's really at.

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Don't assume that joblessness is the only dangerous effect, either. Democrats have outlined numerous ways in which average Americans will suffer should the sequester go through. These include government shutdowns, decreased wages, fewer teachers, an impotent FBI, the implosion of the national park system, a weak military, increased crim, and environmental disaster. Next week, they'll probably tell us it'll lead to an Earth that splits in two; ushering in a new age of chaos in the post-apocalyptic wastelands. All of this, of course, is completely ridiculous. None of it needs to happen. On Wednesday, Dan Calabrese did a masterful job of detailing the numbers. Should the sequester happen, the military will be operating on a budget 10% larger than it was in 2008, and domestic agencies will have 12% more than they had in 2008. The only thing I'd add to this is the following graph, which shows projected spending, with and without the sequester, from now until 2021. Shocking! It increases almost as if there are no real cuts at all. ...because there aren't. All the sequester will do is implement a minimal slowdown in the rate at which our government spends itself into oblivion. It does nothing to make us reverse course on our squandering. If there's any disaster regarding the sequester, it's that it isn’t bigger. Obama is well aware that this "cut" is no big deal. In terms of actual long-term impact, it's almost completely benign. It is, however, very useful as a fear-mongering political tool - which is why the President has fought so hard to keep it in place. “I will veto any effort to get rid of those automatic spending cuts - domestic and defense spending," Obama said of the sequester in 2011. "There will be no easy off ramps on this one.” If they were so damaging - such a political liability - why was he so adamant that they be kept in place? As usual, Obama is relying on his media bootlickers to sell the American public the idea that the sequester he created is not only dangerous, but a Republican construct. It's a tactic he's used repeatedly and to great effect: create a problem, pin it on the opposition, and wait for them panic. Eventually, the Republicans always cave because they're terrified of blame. If they had any backbone GOP members would be out in droves, informing the American people that Obama invented this situation and fought for it repeatedly. Republicans need to man up, get out in front of this, and remind people that, in the end, slowing the rate at which we grow our national debt is a good thing. UDATE: As requested, here's the video of Obama's threat to Veto any attempt to undo the sequester.

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