The Sequester Strikes its First Victims!

[IamSam]

Here's another coming whammy as a result of sequester cuts to the extended unemployment benefits - supposedly kept in place by Congress. I got a notice in my e-mail today from the Colorado Unemployment office informing me to expect my benefit to go down - maybe even vanish by April 1. April fool, suckers! And you thought you were going to be able to pay your rent next month!

I'm only getting my extended benefits starting on March 25. That's an entire week's worth. Whoo Hoo! Thanks so much, you worthless group of sleeze bags who pretend to be our "Representatives."

[xoxoxoBruce]

Life is tough on the fringe.

[IamSam]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

Life is tough on the fringe.

Especially the lunatic fringe!

At least this time around I'm prepared and I've cut my bare bone budget down to the marrow.

On the good news front, seems like a few of the hotel/motels around here are accepting Front Desk Applications just in case the economy is getting better in the rest of the world other than the Four Corners. I'm dropping off resumes/applications to them first thing in the am.

The bad news is that many managers want to hire cute young things for the front desk jobs. Older applicants don't even get their resumes read. Then again, it's not everyday of the week that they get an applicant who has worked at the Bates and lived to tell the tale!

[xoxoxoBruce]

The good news is, the recession is over. The bad news is, (besides the lunatics are still running the asylum), unemployment remains high and probably will for awhile.

[Happy Monkey]

From the news I've been seeing, the only effect is the interruption of White House tours.

[xoxoxoBruce]

That's because you live at the epicenter, damage grows as it radiates.

[footfootfoot]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

That's because you live at the epicenter, damage grows as it radiates.

We're still recovering from the Reagan administration here. I suppose we all are. Never mind.

[IamSam]

We're not recovering from a damn thing out here. Although I hear that cases of the plague have gone down in the ground squirrels.

[IamSam]

From the Cortez Journal:

One of the first effects of sequestration to become visible locally is U.S. Rep. Scott Tipton's decision to close his local office.
When Tipton went to Congress, the opening of his "home" office, in the historic Stone Block building on the central intersection of Cortez's downtown, was delayed by renovation and design considerations. A year ago, he relocated upstairs in the same building to save on rent. Now his field representative will see local constituents in a "mobile office."

No longer maintaining office space in Cortez will help him save some of the $98,000 in budget cuts brought on by sequestration - automatic cuts totaling $85 billion in this year's federal budget, part of a failed plan designed to force legislators to counter with reasoned budgetary decisions. The Obama administration has claimed the cuts would be disastrous; Republicans countered that they would barely be felt and certainly wouldn't hamper the operations of the federal government.

I hope he takes his $98,000 and jams it where the sun don't shine. He was next to impossible to get a hold of before. Now like the negleted kid who creates an imaginary friend, poor old Cortez will get an imaginary Congressman.

[Happy Monkey]

I was watching CNN, and they seemed to be treating the cancelled tours as a scandal of some sort.

[piercehawkeye45]

I think it was a bad idea for Democrats to cry out that the sequester would lead to the apocalypse. That obviously is not true but the sequester cuts will further the slow disintegration of our foundation, which, in my opinion, is even more dangerous for our country. A few job losses here and there won't produce an emotional reaction but they do add up and can be very damaging in the long run...


I personally know a few people who lost research positions (healthcare related) because of the cuts..

[glatt]

I have a friend who is a captain in the Coast Guard, and he had a planned trip to London for meetings there. He's in charge of the branch of the Coast Guard that oversees port security, including international supply chain stuff. I was talking briefly with him last night at a concert our kids were putting on, and he said the London trip had been cancelled due to the sequester. I suppose he can make phone calls and send emails instead of doing those meetings in London, but I think there is something lost when government leaders don't talk to their colleagues face to face once in awhile.

I could give you half a dozen similar stories from various friends I have here in Arlington. Mostly they are making cuts like this that aren't super painful but that do slightly harm the mission of these government agencies.

[Griff]

So the Head Start kids we provide therapies for are losing 2 weeks of class. We are still contractually/legally obligated to get them their services for the full time period. That means my department is going to take the financial hit to bus the children in, provide supervision, put together a classroom for kids with that on their IEP's, and whatever else pops up. I found this out after I had to send my aides home this week when their kids didn't show. We used to just put them on overhead for the day, but the squeeze is on, but at least no rich white guy had a flight delay.

[IamSam]

Those reports on the cuts in the Meals on Wheels for homebound seniors are true - at least here. I went straight to the horse's mouth and called up the Director of the Montezuma County program. She told me the cuts were starting to hurt quite a few of our elderly folk here who depend on it. Everyone was rescued at the last moment (for now) when a compassionate businessman with the money to donate, gave our County meals on wheels program $10,000, so they could keep going another 6 months. Nice to know that there are human beings out there who don't share Congress's attitude of "Let the eat airline meals."

[Griff]

I'm less annoyed by the sequester than by the attempts to opt out certain powerful constituencies. McCain whining about cuts to our absurdly large military etc... At this point with the way we do budgets a meat ax is probably preferable to targeted cuts.