It seems that a lot of the media and commentators are saying there is ‘no big deal’ to sequestration…
I’m not getting ‘deep’ into specifics, there are plenty of articles that DO that. I’m trying to take a broad brush approach here rather than bog down in minutia…
However, it IS a huge deal in DOD. Unlike the rest of the government, DOD is not allowed to reprogram money to different accounts or take hits across all accounts. The military is pretty much taking ALL of the hit in what is called O&M accounts. Operations and Maintenance funds are the day-to-day funds that pay for fuel, bullets, beans etc… And when you add it the fact that there was never a budget actually passed to ‘pay’ for the Defense Authorization Bill; so DOD is operating on a continuing resolution (e.g. FY-12 funding levels), which is effectively a 3-5% cut, and now there is a 15-17% cut coming and only ONE account to take it out of, that is a SIGNIFICANT hit!
The Navy/Marines and Army have already come out and said there will be effectively no training the rest of the year, cancellation/deferment of maintenance (NOT good on ships that have already been deferred), cancelled deployments, extended deployments, and furlough of DOD employees (800,000 x 22 days) or 17,000+ man years of lost work.
And these are only direct impacts… And you’re looking at an ineffective military for how ever long this runs and an additional 9-12 months to get back up to speed, based on what we went through under Carter.
Who knows what the status of all the businesses will be that depend on the military???
And the Prez has the balls to get up with fire/police/EMS behind him and claim THEY will be out of work??? They are funded by State/Local agencies, not the federal government!!!
The left has been wanting to gut the military for years and now it looks like they will succeed…
And it’s business as usual in Washington, DC…
I’m not getting ‘deep’ into specifics, there are plenty of articles that DO that. I’m trying to take a broad brush approach here rather than bog down in minutia…
However, it IS a huge deal in DOD. Unlike the rest of the government, DOD is not allowed to reprogram money to different accounts or take hits across all accounts. The military is pretty much taking ALL of the hit in what is called O&M accounts. Operations and Maintenance funds are the day-to-day funds that pay for fuel, bullets, beans etc… And when you add it the fact that there was never a budget actually passed to ‘pay’ for the Defense Authorization Bill; so DOD is operating on a continuing resolution (e.g. FY-12 funding levels), which is effectively a 3-5% cut, and now there is a 15-17% cut coming and only ONE account to take it out of, that is a SIGNIFICANT hit!
The Navy/Marines and Army have already come out and said there will be effectively no training the rest of the year, cancellation/deferment of maintenance (NOT good on ships that have already been deferred), cancelled deployments, extended deployments, and furlough of DOD employees (800,000 x 22 days) or 17,000+ man years of lost work.
And these are only direct impacts… And you’re looking at an ineffective military for how ever long this runs and an additional 9-12 months to get back up to speed, based on what we went through under Carter.
Who knows what the status of all the businesses will be that depend on the military???
And the Prez has the balls to get up with fire/police/EMS behind him and claim THEY will be out of work??? They are funded by State/Local agencies, not the federal government!!!
The left has been wanting to gut the military for years and now it looks like they will succeed…
And it’s business as usual in Washington, DC…
The left is rooting against the military, as they always have.
The right looks on, with lots of wringing of hands.
The Conservative Movement simmers.
Don’t take me as anti-military but if a 2.3% cut in the federal budget is going to bring us to our knees we have problems. In addition, as I understand it this is a cut in the annual spending increase, not the overall budget.
The boots on the ground (or on the decks) will be the ones that will pay. The Pentagon Peacocks will survive.
Opus- Correct… dammit…
Joe- It’s the ‘way’ it has be taken that is the issue… Other agencies can spread the cuts, DOD cannot, only the one pot of money has to absorb ALL the cuts.
WSF- Yep…
@Joe – At a macro level, you are correct. The problem is that the cuts are not 2.3% across the board.
42% of the total sequester ‘cuts’ come from defense spending. (source)
The sequester was designing to be such an unpalatable alternative that it would force congress to do its job and manage this country’s budget. Obviously the people responsible for it underestimated the selfishness, incompetence, and sheer worthlessness of those 535 buffoons — 536 if you count POTUS — currently wasting oxygen in D.C.
Tim- Thanks, a better answer than what I gave.
Once again, the current president is realizing Jimmy Carter’s dream of gutting the military … among other things.
People need to study history.
-then-
People need to ask themselves what they want the world and the nation to look like.
-then-
People need to take the US Military out of the picture and ask themselves if it’s a better world.
The Libertarians are wrong. You can’t hide your head in a hole and feel as if the world will leave you alone – and remain intact.
Rev- True
LL- Excellent point!
Yeah, but so long as Barry and Michelle had fun on their separate million-dollar vacations last week, it’s worth it. “Sacrifice” is just for the peons, I guess.
I never knew how DOD budgets worked until you started explaining it while we were at lunch.
And the other info about the reduced staffing of the new “automated” wonder ships was equally eye-opening.
I think the current administration has done far more than Jimmuh Carter ever did in destroying our military.
Barack The fool Obama is Jimmy Carter on steroids and LSD
Murph- Yeah, but… they are ‘special’…
drjim- They are definitely working on it… sigh
Rick- Concur!
The USAF organization that I’m contracted to is about 1/3 split between Active Duty USAF, Gov Employee, and Contractors. The Govs are facing a 20% pay cut because of the sequestration furloughs. 20% of their pay, gone. On top of pay freezes, no new employees to replace those that have PCS’ed, retired or died (yes, Gov died at young age and hasn’t been replaced).
The Programs that we support haven’t been cut, so there’s more work with less personnel or training. So now our weapons proficiency will go downhill, Programs will not have regular Security reviews, etc.
And the rest of the issues of living in the DC/NOVA/MD area on top of that.
Depression is setting in rapidly.