The Sequester Strikes its First Victims!

[IamSam]

As predicted, sequester cuts will hit those most vulnerable. In this instance it’s the children of the men and women serving in our military. The cuts will impact schools serving those children living on or near military bases almost at once. I grew up in the military, and for us Army brats, the schools were excellent, and I appreciate the education I received from them in my early years.

I can only imagine my Father’s distress had he been serving a tour in Korea or Vietnam, only to find out that the government had closed down or curtailed his daughter’s schooling while he was on the other side of the world and helpless to do anything about it.

I imagine military members doing tours of duty outside the country today will feel no differently than my Dad would have – very worried and concerned.

USA! USA! USA! Your country thanks you.

NOT.

FORT HOOD, Texas Public schools everywhere will be affected by the government's automatic budget cuts, but few may feel the funding pinch faster than those on and around military bases.

The still-fragile economy braced itself for the gradual but potentially grave impact of the across-the-board cuts, which took effect Friday night at the stroke of President Obama's pen. Hours earlier, he and congressional leaders emerged from a White House meeting no closer to an agreement.

...School districts with military ties from coast-to-coast are bracing for increased class sizes and delayed building repairs. Others already have axed sports teams and even eliminated teaching positions, but still may have to tap savings just to make it through year's end.

But there's little hope for softening any future financial blows.
"Next year is scarier than this year," said Sharon Adams, chief financial officer for Muscogee County schools in Georgia. The district serves the U.S. Army's Fort Benning and could lose $300,000 in federal funding out of its $270 million in general funds before the end of the school — and more than four times that in 2013-2014.

More -

[Griff]

Too bad.
So sad.

Word on the street is 4,000 head start slots will be lost in New York State, nobody seems to have any idea how many classrooms will be shuttered in my organization. On the upside this is the only way the fuckers will ever cut "defense" spending.

Military Industrial Complex Invokes Emotional Plea for More Tax Dollars

[IamSam]

Originally Posted by Griff

Too bad.
So sad.

Word on the street is 4,000 head start slots will be lost in New York State, nobody seems to have any idea how many classrooms will be shuttered in my organization. On the upside this is the only way the fuckers will ever cut "defense" spending.

Military Industrial Complex Invokes Emotional Plea for More Tax Dollars

I have no love for the military industrial complex. Halliburten can go to hell along with all the rest as far as I'm concerned. But active duty military and their families, as well as our vets should not have to pay for Dick Cheney's sins.

Many bad things will come down if the mindless sequester remains in place. The fact that some frivolous expenditures will get the ax doesn't make it any better.

[xoxoxoBruce]

At the bottom of this page at Whitehouse.Gov, there's a link to a pdf for each state, spelling out what the White House claims is the likely result of this nonsense.

[IamSam]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

At the bottom of this page at Whitehouse.Gov, there's a link to a pdf for each state, spelling out what the White House claims is the likely result of this nonsense.

Nice find Bruce. I checked out what this means for just Colorado:

Military Readiness: In Colorado, approximately 12,000 civilian Department of Defense employees would be furloughed, reducing gross pay by around $68.5 million in total.

Army: Base operation funding would be cut by about $57 million in Colorado.
Air Force: Funding for Air Force operations in Colorado would be cut by about $8 million.

Nutrition Assistance for Seniors: Colorado would lose approximately $720,000 in funds that provide meals for seniors.

Protections for Clean Air and Clean Water: Colorado would lose about $2 million in environmental funding to ensure clean water and air quality, as well as prevent pollution from pesticides and hazardous waste. In addition, Colorado could lose another $1.2 million in grants for fish and wildlife protection.

And more...

I don't know why you use the word "claims," Bruce. These are the things that will happen if spending is cut as dictated by the sequester. No, we may not see some of these things happen immediently, but they WILL happen if the damned government doesn't get its head out of its ass.

[xoxoxoBruce]

I say claims because these cuts allow some wiggle room for the department heads as how to apply them. It's politics and I'd bet a lot that these predictions are worst case scenarios.

I doubt anyone in congress will be suffering very much from these cuts. I got an email from my Republican Senator citing several items the government pays for which would make most taxpayers roll their eyes, unfortunately I didn't save it.

[DanaC]

And what the fuck are single parents (well, any parents but singletons especially) supposed to do if they haven't got access to subsidized childcare? How many part time working mums will have to give up that part time work?

[Griff]

I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess that single moms or the working poor were not among Boehner's biggest contributors in the last election cycle. This is how dictatorships can take root in democracies. The utter failure of elected officials to man up and make real choices will lead to folks asking that more power be placed in fewer hands.

[tw]

Originally Posted by Griff

I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess that single moms or the working poor were not among Boehner's biggest contributors in the last election cycle. This is how dictatorships can take root in democracies.

Boehmer is not the problem here. He tried to fix it. Then his party wackos discovered his Grand Bargain. Intentionally subverted it. Because wackos (ie tea partiers who even wanted a witch for Senator) want America to fail. Limbaugh, Norquist, et al tell these wackos what to think.

Frontline's Cliffhanger discusses this.

Extremists among us destroyed a budget surplus by spending on everything wasteful including welfare to the rich. Invented wars to "protect our oil" (rhetoric from the Project for a New American Century). Tried to put Social Security into the stock market. Advocated tax cuts by even ignoring the lessons from Kennedy's tax cuts. Intentionally subvert the Security and Exchange budget to therefore create Bernie Madoff and other destruction. Blamed unions for America's diminished productivity created by money games. Openly attacked space science and other essential research such as quantum physics. Borrowed massively from the Chinese while passing laws that kept those expenses out of the budget (to hide their deficits). Destroyed jobs by enriching the rich. And then blamed their unchecked spending and unpaid bills on Obama.

Cheney said, "Reagan proved that deficits don't matter." Now those deficits do matter. Cheney, acidicly on Charlie Rose, openly blames our deficits on Obama. Only a brainwashed extremist could believe that.

Boehmer only has two choices. Be backstabbed by his party extremists (as they also did to Gingrich). Or recite their rhetoric.

The Republican party hates moderates as Sen Snow (R-Maine) so bluntly stated. Moderates need facts and numbers. Extremists hate people who would work for America. Or who learn facts before making a conclusion.

Boehmer is a trapped rat in a party dominated by people who, for example, passed laws to ban research into gun violence. He can only recite extremist ideology now that so many of us so hate America as to even want research into gun violence banned.

Dictatorships? Quite correct. A lesson well proven in history. Nazis used similar tactics in early 1930s Germany to obtain power. They were successfull because so many adults who were children believed the rhetoric rather than learn facts like an adult.

[ZenGum]

I've heard it said that the amount that needs to be cut - $85 billion - is about what the US spends on the war on drugs each year.

[Griff]

Some polling.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/127367698/...n-poll-Results

[regular.joe]

What's the use of having all that green if you you can't buy a few politicians????

[tw]

Originally Posted by regular.joe

What's the use of having all that green if you you can't buy a few politicians????

Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, Andrew Carnegie, the Rockefeller family, and recently Michael Bloomberg all answered that question in numbers that have exceed $billions.

[IamSam]

tw wrote We have a sequester because extremists say "my way or the highway". Or "we want America to fail" - a direct quote from Rush Limbaugh. Or "Reagan proved that deficits don't matter" - a direct quote from the extremist VP Cheney. Last week was a perfect example of how many adults can be manipulated like children. They voted for Berlusconi.

I don't know about Italy, but in the US, tea party members are an extremely ignorant and uninformed group. I suppose you could say that makes them like childrem. However, IMO they are just xenophobic and closed minded.

The far right has a significant percentage of people with racist attitudes as I've mentioned before in other threads. There is a genuine fear that black people will riot in the streets if they happen to feel like it - for whatever reason. Even a dweller here (who shall remain anonymous) mentioned to me in a pm that they were concerned because if Obama lost the recent election, African Americans would take to the streets and disrupt the entire country.

Such beliefs contribute to the " just say 'no' " attitude of conservatives in the House. They are outwardly enraged and secretly frightened that a black person has become POTUS not only once, but twice. Thus, anything Obama suggests is immediently opposed as a manner of routine. I bet that the tea party would suddenly decide the rich should be taxed to the hilt if Obama made a speech saying he had changed his stance and wanted to protect the wealthy from any new taxes.








sent by waves bounced off a million tin hats

[infinite monkey]

From my national association newletter:

How does it impact the Federal Student Aid Programs?

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has announced that sequestration will cut overall ED funding by $2.278 billion. For federal student aid, the Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (FSEOG), Federal Work Study (FWS), TEACH Grant, TRIO, Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP), and Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need (GANN) will each see an estimated 5.0 percent cut during the first year of sequestration.

Stafford Loan origination fees are expected to rise from 1.00 to 1.05 percent and PLUS origination fees to rise from 4.00 to 4.20 percent. Annual or aggregate loan limits would not be impacted.

The Pell Grant is protected from sequestration for the first year. In years 2-10, (Award Years 2014-15 though AY 2022-23) Pell will be subject to cuts as a result of sequestration.

The specific long-term impact on Department of Education (ED) contractors is unknown.

When will I know how much was cut for the student aid programs at my campus?

Hopefully soon, but it could take several weeks to find out what the new campus-based allocations under sequestration will be for your campus-based programs. Using ED's institutional-level formula elements for the 2013-14 tentative campus-based allocations, NASFAA has created a list of estimated campus-based reductions on an institutional basis for both the FWS and FSEOG programs as a result of the impending sequester.

What should I tell my students?

For schools preparing award letters for the 2013-14 award year, we advise that award letter language include clear caveats that award amounts for FWS, FSEOG, TEACH, and loan origination fees are subject to change based on federal funding.

It's always fun telling students "I don't know nuttin'" when we're waiting on the feds. It's also fun for me when loan fees change midstream. Reporting nightmare.

Just a view from this side of the sequestration. The More You Know.