Death by Sequestration

The defense budget has always been collateral damage in the great budget debate over the relative merits of entitlement reform and tax increases. The current deficit is projected to total some $642 billion in 2013. The combination of cuts to the defense budget mandated by the fiscal year 2011 Budget Control Act (BCA) and those imposed by the sequester amount to less than $85 billion, that is, they account for no more than a 14 percent reduction of the 2013 deficit. Clearly, defense does not provide a solution to the annual deficit, much less to the seemingly endless growth in the national debt. That solution can only be reached when the Congress resolves the taxes-versus-entitlements debate.

In the meantime, cutting defense by $85 billion has had a severe impact on our military’s readiness, operations, and modernization program. And should sequestration continue into fiscal year 2014, as by all indications it will, its impact will be even more devastating, since the defense budget that the administration submitted to the Congress earlier this year would have to be reduced by $52 billion in addition to the $47 billion in BCA-driven reductions that the budget incorporates. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel and Deputy Secretary Ash Carter have made it clear that the only way the sequester can be honored is by implementing further severe cuts in readiness, in addition to some combination of radical reductions in force levels and cancellation of modernization programs.

The administration’s budget presupposes that there will be no sequester in the coming fiscal year, though of course the White House recognizes that this is mere wishful thinking. It continues to call on Congress to reach a deal that would bring the sequester to an end. But the administration has offered nothing to help that deal along, other than to offer a “balanced approach” to the deficit and debt, “balanced” being a code word for the administration’s long-standing proposals to focus on tax increases and shelter entitlements.

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This is a national tragedy, and very few Americans can be bothered to care.

All of the Sequester "savings" are being eaten alive by the explosion of Entitlements, but mandatory spending is the one issue that politicians don't want to touch.

The US military is already broken. For it to be completely destroyed by its own government is no longer of question of "if", but "when."

Congress has no political will to end Sequestration. To do so would require entitlement reforms to Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security.

Many Tea Party politicians are so focused on cutting spending, they don't care if the military is enviscerated.

The House and Senate Defense Appropriations bills are miles apart, but there isn't even a conference scheduled to resolve the differences.

Republicans plans to attempt to undue the harshest cuts to Defense stipulated in the 2011 BCA (which a vast majority of Republicans voted for) are not going to pass, because Obama has made clear he will veto any bill that replaces funds for defense at the expense of his giveaway programs.

The sequestration is absolutely killing small and medium sized companies in the defense subcontracting industry.

They have been faced with the absolute and “unexpected” suspension of up to 100% of their cash flow in an economic environment where it’s almost impossible to replace that cash flow quickly enough to keep the company from going under.

Many of these companies took on considerable debt loads to ramp up production for the War on Terrorism so they are really screwed and totally unable to weather the storm.

The number of really outstanding small companies that have been caught up in this fiasco and have been forced out of business and into liquidation over the the short space of last several months is mind boggling.

The companies destroyed so far are but a small fraction of the total of those that soon will be out of business since many more companies are currently teetering on the brink and will soon be forced out of business by the irresponsibility of our Political Class if things continue the way they are going.

These small, specialized subcontracting companies form the back bone of our defense industry and have skill sets that will be difficult to replace when the time comes to re build the damage done by sequestration.

Nobody in the Media is reporting on this so it is happening under the radar screen of public attention.

This is pure bulls*it. The world is going to come to an end because fedgov might reduce the rate of increased spending?! If you’re all crying over this, wait until the real bitch comes to town. That bitch is Math. Specifically the exponential function. Here’s a hint of what that looks like...everything, across the board, 60-70% cut in spending. Not a pussy reduction in next year’s planned increase, but real year over year cuts. Smart people would be making plans now for a drastic but orderly reduction in government. That means no garrisoning of the entire planet, no more drug war, eliminating half of the cabinet level departments. Instead we’re going to be a good example of a bad example to future generations. This is going to end up like one of my ext wife’s family reunions....loud, ugly and very entertaining.

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