Posted on 03/01/2013 4:41:18 AM PST by Lucky9teen
We've heard a lot lately about sequestration.
But how did our lawmakers get us to this point?
Let's take a look.
It all started back in 2010 when the Tea Party swept into the House of Representatives. They argued that the stimulus measures – taken by the Obama administration to lessen the depth of the recession – created too much debt. To reduce this debt they were going to slash government spending...
Now, every so often Congress authorizes how much money the government can borrow. This is called the debt ceiling. Tea partiers rightly claimed that the debt ceiling was too damn high.
"The Debt Ceiling is Too Damn High!"
So they tried to use the debt ceiling as leverage to shrink government services and cut programs like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.
After the left took the U.S. economy to the brink of default, the right wing agreed to raise the debt ceiling, but only if they were guaranteed some sort of massive spending cuts.
And thus the sequester was born.
The sequester was supposed to be so painful that Congress would have to come up with a plan. It was acclaimed by both Democrats and Republicans as a victory of bipartisanship.
So Congress formed a "Super Committee" to pass a “Grand Bargain” that would reduce the deficit by the same amount as the sequester, but with a more balanced mix of cuts and increased revenue.
Because the Tea Party held the line, and the Democrats refused to back down from their big government agenda, the Super Committee was not able to agree on a plan. The Tea Party refused to even consider raising any taxes or take from the rich to give to the poor. They believed the best thing to solve the debt problem, was to cut, cut, cut. So the can was kicked down the road until after the election.
Time passed. Obama got re-elected and most of America was like this:
The people who voted for the other guy were like this:
Immediately following the election there were two deadlines. The Bush tax cuts were going to expire, raising taxes on most Americans in the middle of a weak economy. At the same time, sequestration was going to kick in, slashing spending indiscriminately. This combination of tax hikes on the middle class and devastating spending cuts was known as the FISCAL CLIFF.
At least the scenery is nice.
Instead of jumping off the fiscal cliff, President Obama and Speaker of the House John Boehner decided it was time for a grand bargain. They would compromise by raising revenue and cutting spending at the same time. Thanks to caving from Progressive Republicans, the grand bargain ended up something like this:
Side note: although Obama is taking more money from wealthy Americans, many millionaires and billionaires still ignorantly support him.
After obstructing yet another compromise, Republicans decided the sequester was still a good idea. They would try to use it to force cuts to vital programs. The sequester was postponed until March 1. Meanwhile, we see the wolves dine with each other, deciding on what to eat for lunch.
Now March 1 is upon us. So the sequester is about to kick in. Obama is traveling the country, claiming the sky is going to fall.
Obama & Co. claim that by letting the automatic spending cuts go into effect the whole of government will be shut down, people will lose jobs everywhere, food will be scarce, police and fire fighters won't be able to protect citizens, medical services will be eviscerated...basically everything that makes the world go around, will come to a halt.
Yeah, it's that messed up.
Meanwhile, most Americans feel like this:
The sequester will eliminate jobs, but they'll be UNION and government jobs. It's a start in cutting back this over-grown and out-of-control, government.
Meanwhile Obama keeps going on vacation after vacation, on the taxpayer dime.
Partying on some yacht.
President Bush and VP Cheney are sitting in a bar. A guy walks in and sees them... “Wow, this is a real honor! What are you guys doing in here?”
Bush says, “We’re planning WW III.”
The guy says, “Really? What’s going to happen?”
Bush says, “Well, we’re going to kill 140 million Muslims and one blonde with big boobs.”
The guy exclaimed, “A blonde with big boobs? Why kill a blonde with big boobs?”
Cheney looks at Bush and says:
“See, I told you, no one gives a crap about the 140 million Muslims.”
MO look like a pig at a trough.
The only thing missing is the "CL"
GOOD JOB!!
I’m not sure I get that.
That was pretty funny. Is it from the wedding reception fight I heard about a few weeks back?
Fashion Show IIRC
Great job! I was looking for Roscoe’s fingerprints on this one.
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