A Few Facts About The Sequester And Baseline Budgeting

I’ve listened to President Obama, fortified by the main stream media, talking about how devastating the automatic spending cuts from the sequester will be if allowed to happen.  The President said the ability of first responders (a group of which he posed behind him) would be decreased and that FBI agents would be furloughed.  He went on to say that federal prosecutors would have to dismiss cases and release criminals, Border Patrol agents would see fewer hours, other federal employees would be furloughed, police and firefighters would be laid off and teachers wouldn’t get paid.  About the only thing he didn’t say was that we’d lose the war and be ruled by another country if the sequester happened.

The main stream media, i.e., the all Barack all the time channels, echo the President’s dire warning instead of telling the truth.  Together the President and the MSM blame the Republicans for this pending disaster because the Republicans just won’t give the President free reign to institute another tax increase on the American people.  Liberals all over the country are also blaming the Republicans and demanding Obama’s plan be allowed to go through – even following an unexpected tax increase that began on January 1^st that Obama said would not happen!  Hard to believe, huh?

The truth about the sequester is that the spending cuts would amount to about 2% of the current budget – the same amount that began disappearing from people’s paychecks due to the increase in Social Security taxes in January.  The President expects everyone to live without that 2% but says America itself could collapse if the government loses 2% of its budget.  Huh?  Our government spends so much money on pork barrel spending it’s pathetic.  Certainly that spending is more than 2%.  But America will collapse if Obama does not get his way?  I think not.  (And for the record - teachers are not paid by the federal government.  Neither are most police and firefighters.  Mr. Obama knows this but he likes to use those people as a method of gaining sympathy.  It's simply another lie.)

What the President and politicians in general don’t talk about is Baseline Budgeting.  In 1974 the government passed a bill that allowed the government to project spending for the next year in order to assist with preparing a budget each year.  (Preparing a budget: definition….  "Something the Democrats don’t do even though it’s required by law…")  Baseline budgeting automatically projects spending increases for the next year based on inflation rate and population growth.  The average baseline increase is about 7% a year.  The law was modified in  1984 to project for five years and again in1987 to allow for projections of ten years instead of five.

So the truth, Mr. President, is that government spending limits increased automatically by about 7% this year and the sequester cuts will be about 2%.  That leaves a 5% (or about a $15 billion) increase in spending limits automatically, even after the sequester takes effect.  So why, pray tell, would all these people have to be furloughed and prosecutors have to drop cases because of budget cuts when no real budget cuts will occur?

The American people should, by now, be getting tired of the scare tactics used by President Obama and the Democrats to get what they want.  First of all, the White House came up with the idea of the sequester and appointed a “supercommittee” to look into the idea.  Secondly, when the committee produced their results they were drafted into a bill and the President signed it into law.  Did he do this under duress?  Third – in a news conference in October of 2011, the President defended the spending cuts in the sequester and declared he would veto any attempts to derail it. 

On Wednesday the President said it was not his idea but that of the Republicans and it was a bad idea.  In other words, the President flat-out lied.  And the main stream media and most liberals applaud him for blaming the Republicans, even if it’s a blatant lie.  Such blind loyalty is one of the things I will never understand about Obama supporters.  Sooner or later don’t you get tired of the lies?  They effect you.

So there you have it – a little truth about the sequester and the budget.  You won’t hear this information from the White House.  It wouldn’t further President Obama’s agenda of raising taxes.  If you don’t believe me – do the research yourself.  Everything I have written is out there.  What matters most is whether or not you want to know the truth or blindly follow along…