A False Negative
If you have not read Krauthammers piece, do it, he explains the Obama sequester perfectly and also the administrations plan to make it as huge and painful as possible to prove his “chicken little” theory is correct.
A 2011 Government Accountability Office report gave a sampling of the vastness of what could be cut, consolidated and rationalized in Washington: 44 overlapping job training programs, 18 for nutrition assistance, 82 (!) on teacher quality, 56 dealing with financial literacy, more than 20 for homelessness, etc. Total annual cost: $100 billion-$200 billion, about two to five times the entire domestic sequester.
Are these on the chopping block? No sir. It’s firemen first. That’s the phrase coined in 1976 by legendary Washington Monthly editor Charlie Peters to describe the way government functionaries beat back budget cuts. Dare suggest a nick in the city budget, and the mayor immediately shuts down the firehouse. The DMV back office, stacked with nepotistic incompetents, remains intact. Shrink it and no one would notice. Sell the firetruck — the people scream and the city council falls silent about any future cuts.
2 thoughts on “A False Negative”
I read that column in my local paper – perhaps the best commentary on the whole stinking mess I’ve seen to date. For my money Krauthammer is the best pundit out there.
Separate topic – have you noticed that the Soylent Green website has been shut down by WordPress. Any idea what’s going on (other than the obvious explanation that WP objected to some of his more graphic images)?
Tim – It seems as though Krauthhammer does not have ulterior motives, just goo solid opinion. I like that about him.
I have not heard anything from Soylent Green, agreed it may be content related. Bummer for him though, he was the first blog to ever link my site. Hope he gets it straightened out.