Here's When the Sequester Will Start to Hurt - by Rick Newman

Now that the federal spending cuts known as the sequester are finally in place, isn't mayhem supposed to erupt? After all, President Barack Obama warned of long airport lines, unpaid janitors, furloughed teachers and hundreds of thousands of other lost jobs if the cuts went into effect.

Obama surely knew he was exaggerating to some extent, which is why administration officials are now backtracking and saying they never felt the sequester would causing searing pain on Day 1, or even Day 10. But it will still hurt the economy, they insist, if Congress doesn't do something soon to mitigate $85 billion worth of across-the-board cuts that most government agencies will have to bear this year.

Read more: Here's When the Sequester Will Start to Hurt - Rick Newman (usnews.com)

US Economy - Boehner: 'I don't think anyone quite understands' how sequester gets resolved

In an exclusive interview with NBC’s Meet the Press, House Speaker John Boehner said there is no easy way to stop the budget cuts -- known as the “sequester” – that began taking effect Friday night, and voiced uncertainty over how Washington can solve the overall fiscal problems that have consumed the nation’s politics for more than two years.

“I don't think anyone quite understands how it gets resolved,” Boehner admitted in his interview with NBC’s David Gregory.

Boehner explained his strategy in the Republicans’ tax-and-spending standoff with President Barack Obama, saying that he didn’t want to “arbitrarily pull out a couple of tax expenditures” just to raise the revenue needed to avert $85 billion in spending cuts which are being made this year.

Read more: Boehner: 'I don't think anyone quite understands' how sequester gets resolved - NBC Politics

US Economy: "the party is over" - Obama signs order for $85 billion in spending cuts

President Barack Obama reluctantly ordered an $85 billion austerity drive Friday that could slow the US economy and slash jobs, after blaming Republicans for refusing to stop the "dumb" spending cuts.
Obama complied with his legal obligations and initiated the automatic, across-the-board cuts in domestic and defense spending, following the failure of efforts to clinch a deal with Republicans on cutting the deficit.

he president signed an order bringing the arbitrary cuts into force, saying they should be made in "strict accordance" to US law, and a report by his Office of Management and Budget detailing the cuts to each agency.

Obama had earlier blamed the austerity time bomb on Republicans, who refused to close tax loopholes used by the rich and corporations combined with more targeted spending cuts, in what he calls a "balanced" approach to deficit reduction.
"I am not a dictator. I'm the president," Obama said, warning he could not force his Republican foes to "do the right thing," or make the Secret Service barricade Republicans leaders in a room until a deal is done.

Read more: Obama signs order for $85 billion in spending cuts - UNITED STATES - FRANCE 24

US Economy: A dysfunctional U.S. government in spotlight as sequester talks stall - by Kevin Carmichael

U.S. stock markets were little changed in the wake of Washington’s latest failure to co-operate, which suggests investors anticipate politicians will yet resolve to blunt the effects of sequestration. Mr. Obama told a press conference that he would continue to seek an agreement to blunt the full impact of sequestration, which could result in tens of thousands of lost public service jobs and a reduction of economic growth by a half of a percentage point.

“There is a caucus of common sense up on Capitol Hill, but it’s a silent group right now,” Mr. Obama said. While it may take a “couple of weeks” or a “couple of months” of negotiating, “my view is ultimately that common sense prevails,” Mr. Obama said.

The “sequester” was designed to force an enlightened negotiation over narrowing the U.S. bloated budget deficit, which has exceeded $1-trillion for four consecutive years. The thinking was that the prospect of $1.2-trillion of indiscriminate budget cuts over a decade – split roughly evenly between discretionary spending and the Defence Department – would force politicians to come up with a more elegant solution.

Read more: A dysfunctional U.S. government in spotlight as sequester talks stall - The Globe and Mail

US Economy-Sequestration cuts :" White House, Republicans dig in ahead of budget talks"

 Positions hardened on Wednesday between President Barack Obama and Republican congressional leaders over the budget crisis even as they arranged to hold last-ditch talks to prevent harsh automatic spending cuts beginning this week.

Looking resigned to the $85 billion in "sequestration" cuts starting on Friday, government agencies began reducing costs and spelling out to employees how furloughs will work.

Expectations were low that a White House meeting on Friday between Obama and congressional leaders, including Republican foes, would produce any deal to avoid the cuts.

Public services across the country - from air traffic control to food safety inspections and education - might be disrupted if the cuts go ahead.


Sequestration cuts - chicagotribune.com

US Economy: Sequestration: Bring it on! - "who listens to politicians anymore ?" - by Roger Simon

Politicians have lost their power to frighten me. I no longer believe the sky is falling. I have lived through America’s past disasters: Vietnam. Watergate. Disco.

We survived them all. We have grown strong at the broken places. But now the polls have come up with a new word to panic us: sequester.

It is supposed to scare us witless. But, in truth, hearing a politician tell us, “We are heading toward sequester” is really no scarier than hearing the words, “I don’t like the looks of that mole” or “Welcome to Carnival Cruise Lines.”

The sequester was designed to be so horrible that both the Republicans and Democrats in Congress would recoil from it.

All sorts of things will be cut under a sequester: border security, airport security, Head Start, public housing support, NASA, special education, the FBI, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and national defense.

But do you know what does not get cut? Take a guess. That’s right:
 
The salaries of senators and representatives do not get cut under sequester.  Congressional staffers — those people who actually read and write the laws, get coffee and have to go before the cameras to explain why their boss has been found in a Motel 6 with a pole dancer named Mercedes Dee Lite — face a 20 percent pay cut through furloughs.

But members of Congress? Their six-figure salaries will continue to roll in, even as money to Medicare patients gets cut.

So why did anybody expect Congress to be repelled by a sequester?

Read more: Sequestration: Bring it on! - Roger Simon - POLITICO.com

US Economy: While Sequester Looms, Congress Eyes Next Fiscal Deadline

On Friday, $85 billion in automatic spending cuts are set to take effect if our elected officials fail to act. Over the next decade, a total of $1.2 trillion in government cuts to both domestic and defense spending are expected to impact the U.S. economy.

This is the sequestration process that was agreed to two years ago, which was supposed to be headed off before reaching this point, as The Daily Ticker Henry Blodget details in the accompanying clip with Yahoo! Finance senior columnist Michael Santoli.

Read more: While Sequester Looms, Congress Eyes Next Fiscal Deadline | Daily Ticker - Yahoo! Finance