Obama is Losing Some Liberal Support - Sequester

[Ben]

It looks like Obama is losing a bit of his liberal support regarding how the sequester is going to hurt the 'little guy". Three big MSM outlets have called him out on lying about potential hits. Also, be sure to click on the link to the "pie chart".

On a side note, it's interesting to me that the sequester has not been bigger in the news, especially with the administration talking about what a big hit it will be on everyone. Maybe the general populace is smartening up? Or else maybe realizing that the hit they did take was on 01JAN when payroll taxes went up courtesy of the Democrats.

http://michellemalkin.com/2013/03/01/wapo-obama-capitol-janitors/

[Tallpine]

There was an article in the Billings Gazette online about all the ways the spending cuts would hurt Montana.

With one exception (cutting back facilities open at National Parks), I read through the list and said "hooray!" at each item. 

I want the gorram feds to leave my state! 

[Fitz]

I still fantasize about getting out of gov work and moving to Montana.

Although with Fords hiring spree., Michigan may be an option

[RoadKingLarry]

What happened to the Fiscal CLiff and the resulting end of the world as we know it doom and gloom? I don't think I've heard the phrase Fiscal Cliff since the first of the year. Isn't this the same disaster?
 

[Scout26]

What happened to the Fiscal CLiff and the resulting end of the world as we know it doom and gloom? I don't think I've heard the phrase Fiscal Cliff since the first of the year. Isn't this the same disaster?
 

Obama got his tax increase on the rich so we were all better until the Sequester.

Krauthammer nails what the Obama and Libs really fear.  (Which is why they push the Washington Monument Syndrome.)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/charles-krauthammer-hail-armageddon/2013/02/28/ca8a32a6-81da-11e2-b99e-6baf4ebe42df_story.html

[Ben]

Krauthammer nails what the Obama and Libs really fear.  (Which is why they push the Washington Monument Syndrome.)

I had a meeting with some Air Force guys last week, and a couple of the civilians in the meeting were telling me that their sequester hit would be "furlough Fridays" for the next half year or so. They said it would hurt some of the younger guys and those who live paycheck to paycheck, but a good number of people were actually looking forward to three day weekends, even if the Fridays were unpaid, and given that they are spread out to one day a week, it's not like they're off for a month straight with no pay.

To hit on the "Washington Monument Syndrome", one of the guys was telling me that he has a critical meeting on one Friday every month or so, and he had requested to work that day and take another day off on furlough so that he could better do his job. He was denied, because his boss said, "we have to make this as painful as possible and show how much the cuts hurt".

[lee n. field]

I still fantasize about getting out of gov work and moving to Montana.

Although with Fords hiring spree., Michigan may be an option

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-N8uKzC03E

[drewtam]

I had a meeting with some Air Force guys last week, and a couple of the civilians in the meeting were telling me that their sequester hit would be "furlough Fridays" for the next half year or so. They said it would hurt some of the younger guys and those who live paycheck to paycheck, but a good number of people were actually looking forward to three day weekends, even if the Fridays were unpaid, and given that they are spread out to one day a week, it's not like they're off for a month straight with no pay.

To hit on the "Washington Monument Syndrome", one of the guys was telling me that he has a critical meeting on one Friday every month or so, and he had requested to work that day and take another day off on furlough so that he could better do his job. He was denied, because his boss said, "we have to make this as painful as possible and show how much the cuts hurt".

Mr. Obama signed an order late Friday directing $85 billion in cuts to domestic and defense programs, after holding a fruitless meeting with congressional leaders who remained at odds over how to avoid the reductions, known as a sequester.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323478304578334193811312074.html?mod=WSJ_hps_LEFTTopStories

All this fight over $85B. ~2% of the budget.

2013 Total expenditures   $3.803 trillion (requested)
2012 Total expenditures   $3.729 trillion (requested)
                                        $3.796 trillion (enacted)
2011 Total expenditures   $3.834 trillion (requested)
                                        $3.630 trillion (enacted)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_United_States_federal_budget



$85B is a <insert expletive> rounding error between requested and enacted expenditures.

[AZRedhawk44]

I was reading an article on this yesterday.

You couldn't pay me enough to live anywhere near Mordor on the Potomac.

Lifestyle of just about everyone within 500 miles of that place is driven somehow by government spending.  Sure, the mechanic down the street may not work for the government, but 20% of his customers do.

The article was bemoaning what a hit to the regional economy of Maryland, Virginia, DC, and Delaware the sequester will be, since that part of the country gets disproportionately more federal spending than the rest of the country.  How awful for all these government employees and various contractors.

Yawn.

Yes, it sucks when people lose jobs or get their paychecks cut.

But it happens in the real economy.  It needs to happen to the pie-in-the-sky government economy also.

[French G.]

http://www.whsv.com/home/headlines/Parents-Work-Hard--194432771.html#disqus_thread

Sooo bad I had to leave a comment. Typical Obama voter interviewed about school cuts due to sequestaggedon. Reporter then switches to talking about another locality and has a scary six figure number of what they stand to lose in the deal. Amounts to .19% of their budget. Oh teh noes! Really tiring on the panic. One, it doesn't do anything. Two, big dummy is the one that signed it into law.

[Tallpine]

Wonder what will happen to NICS 

[mtnbkr]

Lifestyle of just about everyone within 500 miles of that place is driven somehow by government spending.  Sure, the mechanic down the street may not work for the government, but 20% of his customers do.

I live about 30 miles from DC.

I do not work for the FedGov, nor does my company have any FedGov contracts.  I've been here for 17 years.  Of that, I worked as a govt contractor for 10 years.  The other 7 were at companies that did not do US FedGov work.

I know plenty others who fall into that model as well.

Chris

[Monkeyleg]

We're spending 40% more this year on fed.gov things than in 2007, but people are acting like everything has been cut to bare bones.

Is inflation running 6.7% a year?

[Hutch]

Is inflation running 6.7% a year?

<Yoda voice>"It will be"</Yoda voice> I think we are approaching a period in which 6.7% inflation will seem like an unattainable dream.  And I flippin' dread it.

[Ron]

http://www.shadowstats.com/alternate_data/inflation-charts

Inflation is 10% using the same formula that was used in 1980.

[drewtam]

http://www.shadowstats.com/alternate_data/inflation-charts

Inflation is 10% using the same formula that was used in 1980.

That tells me that the 1980's formula is not very useful. There is no way inflation stayed above +5%/yr during the deepest parts of the 2009 crash.

According to that formula, inflation has averaged 8-10% since 2000. I'm not completely sure, but it doesn't seem to me that prices (in general) have tripled since 2000.
e^(0.09*12) = 2.94

Was a new $10k car in 2000, now sold for $29.4k?
Was a new $100k house in 2000, now selling for $294k?
Those ratios don't seem realistic.

On the other hand, we know food and oil went up a lot...
Wholesale wheat was $2.62/bushel in 2000.
Now it is $8/bu. So that is showing a 10% inflation rate, but a large portion of the increase is due to the 2011/2012 droughts. In 2010 it was still $5.70/bu. Which is a 7.75% inflation over 10yrs.
2009 saw a 30% drop in wheat prices. Not a 5% inflation as the 1980 formula shows.

http://www.ers.usda.gov/datafiles/Wheat_Wheat_Data/Yearbook_Tables/US_Acreage_Production_Yield_and_Farm_Price/wheatyearbooktable01full.xls

[Ron]

I guess we should cut Jimmy Carter some slack then eh?

[Scout26]

To hit on the "Washington Monument Syndrome", one of the guys was telling me that he has a critical meeting on one Friday every month or so, and he had requested to work that day and take another day off on furlough so that he could better do his job. He was denied, because his boss said, "we have to make this as painful as possible and show how much the cuts hurt".

You have no idea how much crap like this pisses me off.   He needs to be punched in the throat and fired.

[Scout26]

That tells me that the 1980's formula is not very useful. There is no way inflation stayed above +5%/yr during the deepest parts of the 2009 crash.

According to that formula, inflation has averaged 8-10% since 2000. I'm not completely sure, but it doesn't seem to me that prices (in general) have tripled since 2000.
e^(0.09*12) = 2.94

Was a new $10k car in 2000, now sold for $29.4k?
Was a new $100k house in 2000, now selling for $294k?
Those ratios don't seem realistic.

On the other hand, we know food and oil went up a lot...
Wholesale wheat was $2.62/bushel in 2000.
Now it is $8/bu. So that is showing a 10% inflation rate, but a large portion of the increase is due to the 2011/2012 droughts. In 2010 it was still $5.70/bu. Which is a 7.75% inflation over 10yrs.
2009 saw a 30% drop in wheat prices. Not a 5% inflation as the 1980 formula shows.

http://www.ers.usda.gov/datafiles/Wheat_Wheat_Data/Yearbook_Tables/US_Acreage_Production_Yield_and_Farm_Price/wheatyearbooktable01full.xls

Yes, even though home prices went down, the fed still kept (and continues) printing money like it's going out of style.  Remember that inflation is measure of purchasing power.  Are your dollars buying you the same amount or less of the same stuff then in the past?

[Ron]

Don't know about anyone else but I know I am paying more for food and gasoline.

Home prices and rents are still pretty high compared to 1980 also I suspect.

New car prices are up a bit since then also.

Seems to me the best indicator for inflation would be the essentials like housing, transportation and daily bread.

 

[Scout26]

Seems to me the best indicator for inflation would be the essentials like housing, transportation and daily bread.

Which is why the .gov keeps changing what is in the marketbasket of goods the use measure inflation.  Just so they can show that "Yep, ain't no inflatin' goin' on ahere."

[lee n. field]

Which is why the .gov keeps changing what is in the marketbasket of goods the use measure inflation.  Just so they can show that "Yep, ain't no inflatin' goin' on ahere."

This might affect it too:  http://abcnews.go.com/US/exclusive-group-finds-fake-ingredients-popular-foods/story?id=18281941

....

 USP tells ABC News that liquids and ground foods in general are the easiest to tamper with:

    Olive oil: often diluted with cheaper oils
    Lemon juice: cheapened with water and sugar
    Tea: diluted with fillers like lawn grass or fern leaves
    Spices: like paprika or saffron adulterated with dangerous food colorings that mimic the colors

Milk, honey, coffee and syrup are also listed by the USP as being highly adulterated products.

Also high on the list: seafood. The number one fake being escolar, an oily fish that can cause stomach problems, being mislabeled as white tuna or albacore, frequently found on sushi menus.

National Consumers League did its own testing on lemon juice just this past year and found four different products labeled 100 percent lemon juice were far from pure.

.....

If the food you think you're buying isn't the food you're really buying...

[sanglant]

Wonder what will happen to NICS 

completely bankrupted and the return of mail order firearms. hey i can dream. and it's nowhere near the level obama was crying over last week.

[birdman]

Which is why the .gov keeps changing what is in the marketbasket of goods the use measure inflation.  Just so they can show that "Yep, ain't no inflatin' goin' on ahere."

Its actually even worse than that...while the basket changes, its not actually the price of the goods that is even counted, but an adjustment of that based on effectiveness (I.e, if a computer is 2x faster, its "price" is 1/2 as much year over year in terms of how CPI is calculated)

[drewtam]

Yes, even though home prices went down, the fed still kept (and continues) printing money like it's going out of style.  Remember that inflation is measure of purchasing power.  Are your dollars buying you the same amount or less of the same stuff then in the past?

That is the question I was trying to answer. To be more succinct, I think the amount of stuff one can buy per dollar has declined closer to -2% to 5% range than the 5-12% range [1980 calc formula].