Democrats: We'll Push America Over Fiscal Cliff

[Kathianne]

If they aren't allowed to punish the rich:

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/democrats-threaten-push-america-over-fiscal-cliff-absence-193143016.html


Democrats threaten to push America over ‘fiscal cliff’ in absence of tax increases


By Rachel Rose Hartman, Yahoo! News (http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/author/rachel-rose-hartman/)

Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) on Monday announced that Democrats are willing to allow a slew of tax cuts and spending provisions to expire if Republicans refuse to raise taxes on the wealthy, potentially inching the country off a "fiscal cliff."


"If we can't get a good deal, a balanced deal, that calls on the wealthy to pay their fair share, then I will absolutely continue this debate into 2013, rather than lock in a long-term deal this year that throws middle-class families under the bus," Murray, a budget committee member and former co-chair of the debt supercommittee, said at a Brookings Institution discussion of the "fiscal cliff."


"Fiscal cliff" is a reference to the potential crisis faced by the government at the end of this year when the Bush tax cuts and other tax and spending provisions amounting to an estimated $600 billion are set to expire.
Murray added she hopes "it doesn't come to that" and said there are reasons to believe a deal between Democrats and Republicans can be reached before the end of the year. But Murray's threat was clear, and she placed the onus squarely on Republicans to make an agreement a reality.


"If Republicans won't work with us on a balanced approach, we are not going to get a deal," Murray said. Murray suggested that "responsible Republicans" must take the lead in pushing for revenue and raising taxes, adding that if no deal is reached by Jan. 1, 2013, and the cuts expire, Americans for Tax Reform president Grover Norquist's "no tax" pledge "is no longer relevant to this conversation" and "responsible Republicans" will be free to make decisions outside of Norquist's rigid pledge.

Murray's threat, first reported Sunday by the Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/democrats-threaten-gop-with-fiscal-cliff-as-tax-fight-rages-on/2012/07/15/gJQAvybLnW_story.html), has drawn fierce blowback from Republican leaders who argue—with the backing of economists—that Democrats appear willing to risk a recession to win a battle over taxes for the wealthy.


"In their near-fanatical crusade to inflict even more pain on American businesses, Democrats are now openly admitting that they plan to wait until this debate reaches full throttle and Americans are panicked about the outcome to do anything, because they think it will make it likelier they'll get their way," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said on the Senate floor Monday, adding that the current fight amounts to a political ploy.


"And if they don't, then so be it. They're ready to accept the economic and fiscal consequences. They see a crisis coming, and they don't want to waste it." McConnell said Democrats have ignored Republican proposals to prevent tax increases.

[SassyLady]

Isn't this how the Tea Party grew so fast?

[Kathianne]

Isn't this how the Tea Party grew so fast?

Yes, speaking of which, take a look at the Libor thread. :laugh2:

[Kathianne]

Very much related to this thread: http://www.debatepolicy.com/showthread.php?36090-Obama-Is-Screw-Business&p=566564#post566564

Punish the rich, punish the rest of us:

http://news.yahoo.com/report-2m-jobs-lost-automatic-cuts-kick-065246317--finance.html


Report: 2M jobs lost if automatic cuts kick inhttp://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/oXh_6AJBHy_uEbdrklkymA--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9Zml0O2g9Mjg-/http://l.yimg.com/os/152/2012/04/21/image001-png_162613.png (http://www.ap.org/)<cite id="yui_3_5_1_22_1342534116719_393" class="byline vcard">By DONNA CASSATA | Associated Press – <abbr class="updated" title="2012-07-17T07:02:17Z">7 hrs ago

</abbr></cite>WASHINGTON (AP) — Automatic cuts in federal spending will cost the economy more than 2 million jobs, from defense contracting to border security to education, if Congress fails to resolve the looming budget crisis, according to an analysis released Tuesday.


The study, obtained by The Associated Press, was conducted for the Aerospace Industries Association, but it examined the shared pain for defense and domestic programs from the across-the-board reductions slated to kick in Jan. 2. The cuts would reduce the nation's gross domestic product by $215 billion next year while consumer confidence would plummet, said the report by Dr. Stephen Fuller of George Mason University and Chmura Economics and Analytics.


"If they are allowed to occur as currently scheduled, the long-term consequences will permanently alter the course of the U.S. economy's performance, changing its competitive position in the global economy," said the report.


The analysis is similar to other cautionary reports that have emerged in recent months from independent organizations that analyze federal spending and the process known in Washington as sequestration. All the reports carry a degree of uncertainty as the government hasn't spelled out where it would make the cuts.


The Aerospace Industries Association is a trade group that represents manufacturers of military and business aircraft, space systems and other technology. At stake for these companies are billions of dollars of contracts and they are campaigning hard against the spending cuts.


Its report comes amid a cacophony of election-year demands and partisan backbiting over how to avert the impending cuts that will only grow louder in the coming weeks.


Republicans are certain to seize on the dire numbers as they insist that President Barack Obama is ignoring a critical problem and is willing to make deep cuts in the military. Democrats will use the estimates to demand that the GOP accept tax increases on high wage earners as part of any alternative to implementing the cuts.


The House is scheduled to vote this week on legislation forcing the Obama administration to explain how it will impose the automatic cuts. Top officials from major defense contractors such as Lockheed Martin, EADS, Pratt and Whitney and Williams-Pyro are slated to testify before the House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday as they clamor for Congress to avoid the cuts.


Then, on Aug. 1, Jeffrey Zients, acting head of the Office of Management and Budget, and Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton Carter will be questioned by the panel on how the administration plans to make $55 billion in defense cuts next year.


Unless Obama and congressional Republicans and Democrats can agree on a plan to stave off the cuts, the military will face a reduction of $492 billion over a decade, with a $55 billion cut beginning in January, three months into the fiscal year. Domestic programs also would be reduced by $492 billion over 10 years.


The automatic cuts, known as sequestration, are the result of the failure last year of a bipartisan congressional panel to come up with a plan to cut the deficit by $1.2 trillion over 10 years. The panel had been created in the hard-fought budget law passed last summer that reduced government spending while raising the nation's borrowing authority. Decisions on across-the-board reductions, the expiration of Bush-era tax cuts and another effort to increase the country's borrowing authority are part of a packed congressional agenda after the November elections.


Using the issue as leverage, Democrats have signaled they are willing to allow the automatic cuts if Republicans continue to rebuff calls to raise taxes on those Americans making more than $250,000 a year.

...

<cite id="yui_3_5_1_22_1342534116719_393" class="byline vcard"><abbr class="updated" title="2012-07-17T07:02:17Z">
</abbr></cite>




Related:

Must see video at site, that cannot embed, http://www.zerohedge.com/news/ombs-stockman-were-fiscal-endgame


OMB's Stockman: "We're At The Fiscal Endgame" http://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/pictures/picture-5.jpg (http://www.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden)
Submitted by Tyler Durden (http://www.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden) on 07/16/2012

To those on the hill and elsewhere who suggest this growing 'fiscal cliff' and 'debt ceiling' crisis will all get solved, former Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director David Stockman tells Bloomberg TV that "they will punt, punt, punt and kick the can with partial solutions driven by eleventh hour crisis-based extensions that will go on for the whole of the next term!" When asked whether this economy will be mired in the doldrums, he rather ominously states "it will be worse, because we will be in recession" and notes that when the lame ducks re-look at the budget numbers with a realistic recession (instead of the current assumption of no recession within 12 years) it will be far worse and in a political environment where 'we cannot possibly raise taxes - and we cannot possibly cut spending'. With a 78% disapproval rating for the 'do nothing' Congress, Stockman is surprised that 16% somehow approve - approve of what? His warning is that unlike in past periods, today "we are completely paralyzed, there is an ideological divide on taxes and entitlement like we've never had before" and while he realizes that "the debt problem doesn't become a debt problem until the market suddenly have a wake up call and realize that if the Fed doesn't keep printing, it's game over."




"The fact that rates are so low is not a reflection of the US as a safe-haven but a bet on the Fed not allowing rates to rise."

"The perverse low-rate environment simply tells Congress that they can borrow a trillion dollars for 10 billion a year."

If rates rose then it would break this huge partisan stalemate we have today"

"There is a huge costs to stalemate!"
In a little under six minutes, David factually describes the certainly-not-priced-in dismal reality of the political situation we face in the next few months... must watch...

[Kathianne]

and another from Ernst & Young:

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/study-says-obama-tax-proposals-could-cost-700-145037841.html


Study says Obama tax proposals could cost 700,000 jobs—Boehner pounces

By Olivier Knox, Yahoo! News (http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/author/olivier-knox/)
White House Correspondent


(http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/author/olivier-knox/;_ylt=AsfOnedLKtaiei09jJ2u_Q9g24cA;_ylu=X3oDMTE1Zn MybG83BG1pdANCbG9nIEhlYWQEcG9zAzMEc2VjA01lZGlhQmxv Z0hlYWQ-;_ylg=X3oDMTMwOWd2dWRxBGludGwDdXMEbGFuZwNlbi11cwRw c3RhaWQDMWY0NTk5NDUtNzBlNC0zOTk3LTkwMDQtMmRkNTM0MD BkZWM5BHBzdGNhdANlbGVjdGlvbnMyMDEyBHB0A3N0b3J5cGFn ZQ--;_ylv=3)
(http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/author/olivier-knox/;_ylt=AsfOnedLKtaiei09jJ2u_Q9g24cA;_ylu=X3oDMTE1Zn MybG83BG1pdANCbG9nIEhlYWQEcG9zAzMEc2VjA01lZGlhQmxv Z0hlYWQ-;_ylg=X3oDMTMwOWd2dWRxBGludGwDdXMEbGFuZwNlbi11cwRw c3RhaWQDMWY0NTk5NDUtNzBlNC0zOTk3LTkwMDQtMmRkNTM0MD BkZWM5BHBzdGNhdANlbGVjdGlvbnMyMDEyBHB0A3N0b3J5cGFn ZQ--;_ylv=3)Republican House Speaker John Boehner hammered President Barack Obama on Tuesday after accounting firm Ernst and Young released a study funded by pro-business groups hostile to the Democrat's agenda. The firm's results showed that Obama's proposed tax hikes on the wealthy could cost the already sputtering economy more than 700,000 jobs.
(http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/author/olivier-knox/;_ylt=AsfOnedLKtaiei09jJ2u_Q9g24cA;_ylu=X3oDMTE1Zn MybG83BG1pdANCbG9nIEhlYWQEcG9zAzMEc2VjA01lZGlhQmxv Z0hlYWQ-;_ylg=X3oDMTMwOWd2dWRxBGludGwDdXMEbGFuZwNlbi11cwRw c3RhaWQDMWY0NTk5NDUtNzBlNC0zOTk3LTkwMDQtMmRkNTM0MD BkZWM5BHBzdGNhdANlbGVjdGlvbnMyMDEyBHB0A3N0b3J5cGFn ZQ--;_ylv=3)
...

The Ernst and Young study looked at the impact of seeing the top marginal tax rates rise—but also studied the effects of a range of other proposals included in the president's budget and broader tax plans (http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/tax_plan_matrix_transition.pdf).


This report examines four sets of provisions that would increase the top tax rates:


· The increase in the top two tax rates from 33 to 36 percent and from 35 to 39.6 percent.


· The reinstatement of the limitation on itemized deductions for high-income taxpayers (the "Pease" provision).


· The taxation of dividends as ordinary income and at a top income tax rate of 39.6 percent and increase in the top tax rate applied to capital gains to 20 percent.


· The increase in the 2.9 percent Medicare tax to 3.8 percent for high-income taxpayers and the application of the new 3.8 percent tax on investment income including flow-through business income, interest, dividends and capital gains.



Here is what the accounting firm concluded would happen:


· Output in the long-run would fall by 1.3 percent, or $200 billion, in today's economy.


· Employment in the long-run would fall by 0.5 percent, or roughly 710,000 fewer jobs, in today's 
economy.


· Capital stock and investment in the long-run would fall by 1.4 percent and 2.4 percent, respectively.


· Real after-tax wages would fall by 1.8 percent, reflecting a decline in workers' living standards 
relative to what would have occurred otherwise.



Ernst and Young prepared the report on behalf of several pro-business groups, including the Independent Community Bankers of America, the National Federation of Independent Business, the S Corporation Association and the United States Chamber of Commerce. (One of the co-authors, Robert Carroll, served as deputy assistant secretary for tax analysis in George W. Bush's Treasury Department.) Asked for a formal response to the study, two White House officials declined to do so on the record.


"This report shows the president's small business tax hike threatens hundreds of thousands of jobs, and will lead to even less economic growth, less investment and lower wages for American workers," Boehner said.
The speaker underlined that the Republican-led House will vote this month to extend all of the Bush-era tax cuts and set the stage for a broader debate on overhauling the tax code.

[aboutime]

This is exactly what many of us have been trying to warn Liberals, Democrats, and other Under- and Non-educated Americans to watch for since Obama was sworn in.

The DEMS Want to push America over the cliff?

Let them. That will literally be THAT STRAW that breaks the Democrat Back.

They thing they have the Republicans over a barrel with their threats. All the while. Believing the American people won't notice, and will blame the Republicans.

I say. GO FOR IT.

The Democrats are sounding more like Putin, Chavez, Ahmadinnerjacket, and OBL than they have before.
OBL swore he would destroy America from Within....and the Democrats are about to do it.
AMERICANS are watching. And sadly for the Democrats. Those Americans are NOT the same DUMB Americans who made the mistake of voting for Obama the first time.
NOW..the Independents Obama believed would be his saving grace...are watching too!

Pack the U-HAUL Obama, and Every Democrat who's foolish enough to want an end to your political career. Bye Bye.

[Drummond]

This is exactly what many of us have been trying to warn Liberals, Democrats, and other Under- and Non-educated Americans to watch for since Obama was sworn in.

The DEMS Want to push America over the cliff?

Let them. That will literally be THAT STRAW that breaks the Democrat Back.

They thing they have the Republicans over a barrel with their threats. All the while. Believing the American people won't notice, and will blame the Republicans.

I say. GO FOR IT.

The Democrats are sounding more like Putin, Chavez, Ahmadinnerjacket, and OBL than they have before.
OBL swore he would destroy America from Within....and the Democrats are about to do it.
AMERICANS are watching. And sadly for the Democrats. Those Americans are NOT the same DUMB Americans who made the mistake of voting for Obama the first time.
NOW..the Independents Obama believed would be his saving grace...are watching too!

Pack the U-HAUL Obama, and Every Democrat who's foolish enough to want an end to your political career. Bye Bye.


Well ... I say, be careful what you wish for.

Over here in the UK, we had a Socialist Government that borrowed money, and promptly spent it, like the stuff was going out of fashion. When they weren't spending it on pet projects, they were actually using their revenues to buy up a controlling share in certain financial institutions, their price for propping them up, in the aftermath of the banking crisis in 2008. [And yes, they fell back on a bog-standard strategy much beloved of Lefties ... NATIONALISATION, in all but name ..].

The mess that Socialists leave behind, Conservatives are stuck with clearing up. So it has been in the UK ... an austerity program has been instituted which will have to last for several years, and which is bound to blight the jobs market for just that long.

When our Conservatives took over ...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8688470.stm


"When I arrived at my desk on the very first day as chief secretary, I found a letter from the previous chief secretary to give me some advice, I assumed, on how I conduct myself over the months ahead.

"Unfortunately, when I opened it, it was a one-sentence letter which simply said 'Dear chief secretary, I'm afraid to tell you there's no money left,' which was honest but slightly less helpful advice than I had been expecting," he said.

Treasury sources said the letter, dated 6 April - the day Gordon Brown called the general election - actually read: "Dear chief secretary, I'm afraid there is no money. Kind regards - and good luck! Liam."

[Tyr-Ziu Saxnot]

Well ... I say, be careful what you wish for.

Over here in the UK, we had a Socialist Government that borrowed money, and promptly spent it, like the stuff was going out of fashion. When they weren't spending it on pet projects, they were actually using their revenues to buy up a controlling share in certain financial institutions, their price for propping them up, in the aftermath of the banking crisis in 2008. [And yes, they fell back on a bog-standard strategy much beloved of Lefties ... NATIONALISATION, in all but name ..].

The mess that Socialists leave behind, Conservatives are stuck with clearing up. So it has been in the UK ... an austerity program has been instituted which will have to last for several years, and which is bound to blight the jobs market for just that long.

When our Conservatives took over ...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8688470.stm

They are leftists, they use the same play book. Lie, cheat and steal , repeat until desired results come forth.
Obama is just revealing himself more each day as he sees his popularity dwindle and election day coming ever closer!
By ALL RIGHTS he should lose in A LANDSLIDE but corruption and his current power of office may change that result. I do believe that they have plans already in place to steal the election one way or another. Remember they play by the rule -ANYTHING- to win! And that does mean-ANYTHING! -Tyr

[Anton Chigurh]

Notice how they think the automatic cuts are a bad thing?

[Toro]

The good news is that it is a highly visible catalyst with a very defined end game that one can trade off of.

[aboutime]

Well ... I say, be careful what you wish for.

Over here in the UK, we had a Socialist Government that borrowed money, and promptly spent it, like the stuff was going out of fashion. When they weren't spending it on pet projects, they were actually using their revenues to buy up a controlling share in certain financial institutions, their price for propping them up, in the aftermath of the banking crisis in 2008. [And yes, they fell back on a bog-standard strategy much beloved of Lefties ... NATIONALISATION, in all but name ..].

The mess that Socialists leave behind, Conservatives are stuck with clearing up. So it has been in the UK ... an austerity program has been instituted which will have to last for several years, and which is bound to blight the jobs market for just that long.

When our Conservatives took over ...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8688470.stm


Very well said Drummond. However. What we have to keep reminding ourselves, here in the USA is. How the Opposites of our Conservative, and Liberal parties are here.
There in the UK. Our Liberals, are Your Conservatives, and vice versa with Conservative, Liberals there.
It's so easy to always confuse the two...if we forget we are speaking with someone there in the UK.
In either case though. If Socialism is permitted to grow, and flourish here under the Obama/European style of government. The U.S. is on it's way toward becoming another failure like Greece, Italy, Portugal, and most all of the Middle Eastern, Oil glut nations.

[Kathianne]

It's September and things are now rolling downhill fast. Woodward's new book highlights that Obama caused this, now Obama is trying to roll it all onto Congress. In the meantime, he's not doing what he was sworn to do. At this point, there are few answers, but it will be the people that pay the price, likely by January. Anyone really wonder why Obama may not want to remain president? His mess is way beyond what he was left with:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/post/the-latest-dereliction-of-duty-the-sequestration-law/2012/09/08/2ed1fb12-f965-11e1-8b93-c4f4ab1c8d13_blog.html


Posted at 11:00 AM ET, 09/09/2012 <!-- For AP News Registry --> TheWashingtonPost <!-- /For AP News Registry --> The latest dereliction of duty: The sequestration law

By Jennifer Rubin (http://www.washingtonpost.com/jennifer-rubin/2011/02/24/ABbIUXN_page.html)

Friday was the day by which under a law passed by Congress and signed by President Barack Obama the White House needed to detail the defense cuts it would make to comply with the upcoming sequestration under the Budget Control Act. But that’s messy in the middle of an election campaign in which voters might see what plants, bases and production lines might be slashed. So Obama ignored the law. No list. It’s not clear whether he will ever follow the law.

His Republican opponent, Mitt Romney, blasted the president: “A year ago, Barack Obama set in motion the sequestration process that is leading to imminent disastrous cuts in our military might. The President is required by law to tell the American people how he would implement these cuts. But he has chosen to ignore the deadline for doing so. The American people have had enough of evasion and enough of finger pointing. They just want answers. Secretary of Defense Panetta has said these cuts will be devastating to our national security and our economy. It’s time the President stops stonewalling, stops dismantling our military, and starts providing answers.”

Nevertheless the administration has given no date certain when it will comply. “It’s complicated (http://www.federaltimes.com/article/20120907/DEPARTMENTS01/309070001/White-House-misses-sequestration-deadline-59-DoD-will-see-11-cut?odyssey=tab%7Ctopnews%7Ctext%7CDepartments),” says the administration:

Sequestration “doesn’t allow us to prioritize,” [Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Frank] Kendall said, according to a Pentagon release. “It doesn’t allow us to find the things that are least important to us. It doesn’t allow us to avoid some of the damage that will be done by this kind of a mechanism.”




Kendall said any budget-cutting plan the Pentagon could prepare would be irrelevant.




“If we have a budget, there are roughly 2,500 lines in that budget, and we have cut each of them [by] about 11 percent,” Kendall said.




And because sequestration was designed to hit Defense and non-defense agencies’ budgets equally, other agencies also would likely face roughly 11 percent cuts next year.




The cuts would even hit the Pentagon’s war-fighting operations in Afghanistan, Kendall said. And they would be in addition to $487 billion in cuts the department is already making over the next decade. . . .




“The administration has repeatedly ignored requests from Congress for sequester information, even as top officials admit the defense cuts the White House demanded — in an effort to ensure the president wouldn’t face another debt limit vote before the election — would jeopardize our national security,” [House Speaker John] Boehner’s office said. “Now it’s time for President Obama to obey the law he signed and tell the American people how he plans to implement (or replace) these devastating cuts.”




All in all, sequestration could lead to 270,000 lost federal jobs throughout the government, and the furloughs of thousands more.



Wait. 270,000 lost jobs? We are already hemorrhaging workers from the workforce who can’t find jobs. So why in heavens would we add to that?

Moreover, it is apparent that the law is nonsensical. How does the Pentagon cut 11 percent of an aircraft? No wonder the president doesn’t want to follow the law; it would be apparent that it is noxious and unworkable. Voters might even wonder why he has refused to follow the House’s lead in coming up with a sensible alternative package of cuts.

It should be deeply troubling to have a president who repeatedly acts in contravention or direct conflict with the law. He signed the sequestration law; he has no authority to refuse to comply with it. He doesn’t like the immigration laws? Sorry, but he lacks the power to unilaterally alter the law. He thinks that welfare waivers should be handed out even if the law says that you can’t issue waivers? Too bad, he’s not permitted to alter the law. There is apparently no voice of restraint inside the White House. The president wants to do it? It’s done. L’état, c’est moi should be the motto on his Oval Office rug...

[Kathianne]

Related:

http://www.federaltimes.com/article/20120907/DEPARTMENTS01/309070001/White-House-misses-sequestration-deadline-59-DoD-will-see-11-cut?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|Departments


White House misses sequestration deadline; DoD will see 11 % cut <!--<fb:like href="" send="false" width="429" show_faces="false" action="recommend" font="" ref="artrectop"></fb:like>--> Sep. 7, 2012 - 09:25AM |
<!-- Byline --> By STEPHEN LOSEY and ANDY MEDICI
The Obama administration has missed a key deadline to submit a report on how it would implement $109 billion in across-the-board budget cuts scheduled to take effect Jan. 2.


The administration was supposed to send to Congress by Sept. 6 detailed information on every account that would be affected under sequestration, including how much money would be cut from every program, project and activity level.


But that day, the administration told Federal Times the report will come “late next week.” The administration said it needed more time to address the complex issues involved in planning for sequestration.


Washington is hungry for details on how the government plans to absorb these cuts, which are required by last year’s Budget Control Act unless Congress and the administration agree on a path to reducing budget deficits by $1.2 trillion through 2021. Congress last month passed the Sequestration Transparency Act mandating the report. But there have been few official details released so far.


Frank Kendall, undersecretary of Defense for acquisition, technology and logistics, said at a conference Sept. 5 that the Pentagon would have to cut 11 percent of its budget next year. And the across-the-board nature of these cuts would be “devastating,” he said, and leave the Defense Department with almost no flexibility.


Sequestration “doesn’t allow us to prioritize,” Kendall said, according to a Pentagon release. “It doesn’t allow us to find the things that are least important to us. It doesn’t allow us to avoid some of the damage that will be done by this kind of a mechanism.”


Kendall said any budget-cutting plan the Pentagon could prepare would be irrelevant.


“If we have a budget, there are roughly 2,500 lines in that budget, and we have cut each of them [by] about 11 percent,” Kendall said.


And because sequestration was designed to hit Defense and non-defense agencies’ budgets equally, other agencies also would likely face roughly 11 percent cuts next year.


The cuts would even hit the Pentagon’s war-fighting operations in Afghanistan, Kendall said. And they would be in addition to $487 billion in cuts the department is already making over the next decade...

[Tyr-Ziu Saxnot]

Related:

http://www.federaltimes.com/article/20120907/DEPARTMENTS01/309070001/White-House-misses-sequestration-deadline-59-DoD-will-see-11-cut?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|Departments

Just more of obama's slick plan to keep on weakening our nation while he attempts to appease our enemies and insult our allies. We are heading to a tipping point and he wants to be there to make the last shove!-Tyr

[Kathianne]

Just more of obama's slick plan to keep on weakening our nation while he attempts to appease our enemies and insult our allies. We are heading to a tipping point and he wants to be there to make the last shove!-Tyr

Why do you think he wants to 'weaken our economy, while attempting to appease our enemies and insult our allies? Why is his giving the last shove over the economic abyss?'

[Tyr-Ziu Saxnot]

Why do you think he wants to 'weaken our economy, while attempting to appease our enemies and insult our allies? Why is his giving the last shove over the economic abyss?'

Far easier to remake a nation if its destroyed first. Put us into a bad enough situation for us to agree to casting aside our Constitution maybe, who knows the exact plan except those behind it. I do know our being so weakened is not by accident. Either he is the dumbest bastard that ever lived or his bad policies are by design. I believe that they are by design because they so often weaken or destroy that which is good and right about America.-Tyr

[aboutime]

THE BLAME GAME IS NOW IN FULL EFFECT MODE FROM THE OBAMA CROWD.

Nothing else needs to be said, other than a reminder. OBAMA IS STILL A LIAR.