Sequester, Obamacare and 2014....

In an unusual move I have gone back and edited my original post.  I realized, about an hour after I posted it, that I left out one very important thing.  That information is in italics below.  Thanks for your patience and understanding.


I’ve come to the conclusion, over the last few months, that regardless of the promises, regardless of the rhetoric, regardless of who blames who – neither the Democrats or Republicans care much about how the sequester if effecting the American people in general.  Each side blames the other not only for the sequester itself but for the painful cuts that have been inflicted on government agencies.  And regardless of which side yells louder – both sides are to blame for it.

The sequester itself was first suggested by the Obama administration – probably as an incentive to get the two sides to work together to create a workable budget.  The Republican House approved the idea and wrote the bill – putting a deadline on the time allotted to come up with that workable budget.  If they failed to do so the sequester bill would go to the President for signature.  And that’s exactly what happened.  Single out a side to blame if you wish but both are responsible.

I say neither side cares about what is happening to the country, particularly federal employees, because neither side has initiated any real measures to solve the problem.  My wife just received notice that there will be continued furloughs in the new fiscal year beginning October 1^st.  Now I know some people think all federal employees are wealthy but that’s simply not true.  Many make less than $45,000 a year and while that may be a large amount to some – it’s not a large amount to raise a family on.  Now take away at least 7 days of pay from that total in the last six months because of furlough days.  And if the furloughs continue next fiscal year that will mean two days loss of pay per month for each month they continue.  That’s 1/10^th of their income.  And that adds up.

Have you noticed that neither house of government, nor the President, get furlough days for which they don’t get paid?  Isn’t it interesting how that works?  They decide it’s OK to give federal employees unpaid leave and to cut meals for the military but they leave their own pay untouched.  Oh, the President said he was going to donate 5% of his pay because of the sequester.  But he’s a millionaire and that’s only half of the percentage being taken from federal employees.  He’s so generous.

Interestingly, the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), the union for federal workers, still supports Obama and blames the Republicans for the problems.  They’re getting screwed by their own candidate and thank him for it.  I’m glad I never joined.

Our elected officials need to either do their jobs when it comes to spending, budgeting and making the government work effectively or give up their own pay.  Wait – they are in control of their own pay.  So that’s never going to happen.

In the meantime, the Obama administration has taken the bold step to delay implementation of employers with 50 or more full time workers being fined for not providing health insurance until 2015.  They would have us believe it is because the law is complicated and employers need more time to be able to adjust and comply with the law.  And it has absolutely nothing to do with the upcoming election in 2014 and the Democrat fear of major loss because of Obamacare. They said so.

What they also said is that even though employers get a break on the fine until 2015, the individual mandate will still be implemented.  So employers will be able to drop employee health care benefits with impunity but individuals will still be forced to have health care insurance or be “taxed.”  This will help force people over to the government run health care exchanges – as the administration wants. 

The Affordable Care Act was signed into law in 2010 with full implementation set to begin in 2013.  Am I the only one who finds it interesting that major implementation of the law that no one read before signing was first scheduled for after the 2012 election and now that another major part of it (the job killing part) is to be implemented, it has been postponed until after the 2014 election?  

Employers have had four years to prepare for the fines that were supposed to be implemented this year.  So is the Obama administration saying that employers are just too stupid to deal with it or is he afraid that people losing their jobs because of the implementation will hurt the Democrats in the election?  I know what I believe.  And I’m pretty sure most of the American people believe it as well.  Camouflaging things to win an election is Obama’s MO.