Sequestration? What are YOU doing to prepare for it?

[halfmileharry]

Not going to do anything different than any other time.
I'm prepared for about anything and it won't influence my life much. OR shouldn't

 

[NHT3]

Propping my feet up..
I'm tired of one manufactured crisis after another.

[FONT=&quot]NRA Life member [/FONT][FONT=&quot]GSSF member[/FONT][FONT=&quot]
Gunsite graduate Certified Glock armorer[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT][FONT=&quot]1911 Mechanic[/FONT]

 

[SnoopLoggyDog]

I'm glad your's is only 14 days; my agency (DCMA) is saying 22 days (1 day a week for May thru September). My agency is hiring like crazy, which I don't understand; how can things be this tight and still have money for new hires???

Good Luck.... Greg

Got my furlough notice. 22 days over the 11 pay periods, April to September. Going from a 40 hour to a 32 hour work week. Health Care and other benefit rates remain the same. I have to make up the difference. Already have a hiring freeze and zero overtime. DOD has to cut 46 Billion out of the 85 Billion Total.

Federal Budget is 38 Trillion Dollars. Sequester is 85 Billion Dollars.

In simpler terms, you have a $38,000 household budget. You decide to reduce it by $850 dollars. Instead of cutting the cable TV bill and Internet, you stop paying utilities. Food rots in the fridge, water is cut off, house is cold. Everyone suffers.

 

[MML]

Going to the movies...getting annoyed with politicians

 

[Slawburger]

Got my furlough notice. 22 days over the 11 pay periods, April to September. Going from a 40 hour to a 32 hour work week. Health Care and other benefit rates remain the same. I have to make up the difference. Already have a hiring freeze and zero overtime. DOD has to cut 46 Billion out of the 85 Billion Total.

Federal Budget is 38 Trillion Dollars. Sequester is 85 Billion Dollars.

In simpler terms, you have a $38,000 household budget. You decide to reduce it by $850 dollars. Instead of cutting the cable TV bill and Internet, you stop paying utilities. Food rots in the fridge, water is cut off, house is cold. Everyone suffers.

This is the problem with the sequester.
Think of every government program that galls you and it is probably going to continue. People who work to support the warfighter are facing a serious cut in pay or job loss (depending on their specific situation). DoD is absorbing the brunt of the impact. The current state of the economy is such that "just find another job" isn't as easy as it sounds.

 

[Mark-DuCo]

I'm planning on smoking a brisket and enjoying some homebrew.

 

[DragonGunner]

Got my furlough notice. 22 days over the 11 pay periods, April to September. Going from a 40 hour to a 32 hour work week. Health Care and other benefit rates remain the same. I have to make up the difference. Already have a hiring freeze and zero overtime. DOD has to cut 46 Billion out of the 85 Billion Total.

Federal Budget is 38 Trillion Dollars. Sequester is 85 Billion Dollars.

In simpler terms, you have a $38,000 household budget. You decide to reduce it by $850 dollars. Instead of cutting the cable TV bill and Internet, you stop paying utilities. Food rots in the fridge, water is cut off, house is cold. Everyone suffers.

THIS....just watched Woodward on Hanity after being threatend by the WH....he found out the "Father" of all this is in fact Obama. He said this created committee is (R) and (D) both picking the favorite and most important things to them and cutting them to ribbons....it just doesn't make any sense, its insane.

 

[Expat]

They have to prove that any cuts, no matter how small, are just too painful to contemplate so they can continue to argue that we can not cut anything in the budget. The only answer is more taxes.

 

[elaw555]

Nothing........

 

[CountryBoy19]

Party favors, I guess...

I mean less government, even just temporarily, is worth celebrating, no?

Your celebration is misguided...

One last attempt to get this posted. Silly phone.

The DoD budget has already been cut from prior years.

2011: 687 B
2012: 646 B
2013: 614 B

Source: DoD Fiscal Year 2013 Budget Request, Overview, Figure 1-1, Page 7 of 147

The Sequester then cuts another $55 B. The problem is that the DoD budget is nowhere near 50% of the budget but is facing 50% of the Sequester. The cuts are disproportionate. There are other areas of federal spending that I would rather see hit with a "real" budget cut.

This^^^ The budget cut to the DoD is a real cut as in decreased funding...

Any cuts to the DoD budget are good cuts, our country wastes so much money policing the world it has become asinine.

God forbid we balance our budget and pay off debt.

Cut on

You are an angry individual. I'm curious to know how those that are serving are paying for congress? I completely agree with you that congress is inept.

The boys serving are doing exactly what they signed up to do. I owe them no pity nor would they want it if I had any to give. I am thankful for what they do.

The problem that you're not getting is that this isn't about them, or their honor, or yours. It's about a militaristic country over-reaching it's bounds. There is no reason our armed forces should've ever grown as large as they are now, let alone deployed to so many places. The is no reason for us to dump such an astronomical amount of money into defense each year.

Being in the military carries the same risks as any other government job. You are employed by the taxpayers and your budget may be cut. It is bound to happen eventually.

Let me try to explain to you what he's been trying to say. I'll start by saying most of us that will be cut also agree that cuts to the Fed budget are good and need to be done, but it's the way they are implementing these cuts that are going to cause a lot of pain.

Pres Obama by executive order a while back said that active duty troops cannot be furloughed. This is good for them. But what it means is that all the budget cuts to the DoD now have to come out of programs and paychecks on the civilian side. While this, to some, may sound like an ok thing, let me explain the unintended consequences of this.

As an immediate action taken by the US Navy (that's what I'm familiar with so thats my example) to stem the outflow of cash all hiring, training, travel, conference attendance and field activities both Active Duty and Civilian have ceased except for emergency essential exceptions. Sounds like a good way to cut money right?

Well the real impact of that is now our troops that are stateside are sitting stagnant. They are not doing any training. They just sit there and do nothing (a figurative term). Because these troops are not trained and cannot be mobilized for deployments, the troops that they were set to replace overseas (or elsewhere) are now deployed indefinitely. What that means is that your son, daughter, niece, nephew, any active duty soldier that is set to come home soon, probably won't be returning home. They will be stuck over there carrying out the same mission; they get no relief. In some cases, they are stopping deployments that were already mobilized and ready to go. Some may think this is a wise choice but the fact of the matter is that the money to moblize and train those soldiers/sailors was already spent and now is going to waste.

What does it mean on the civilian side of the house? It means the support work including maintenance, repair, procurements, everything is either halted or severely affected. The soldiers can't get parts to repair their trucks, or the radio they sent back to depot to get repaired is now facing an even long back-log before it gets fixed. The real impact of this isn't just the 20-30% reduction in take-home pay for the civilians, it's the fact that our warfighters, putting their lives on the line for us, are now without the much needed equipment they use daily to perform their mission and keep them safe. Yes, it sucks to lose part of our pay, but the part that really sucks is that the Warfighter WILL be heavily impacted by this.

So while congress fights over gun-control laws that in the words of VP Biden "would be worth it if they save just one human life" they neglect the well-being of our soldiers that are in much more danger. It's really unfortunate. Congress has the ability to make cuts where they are really needed but instead they choose to make huge cuts to the DoD where it's extremely hard to make abrupt funding cuts like this. They (Congress and the Executive Branch) are doing this on purpose. They want to make this painful to further their agenda, it's that simple.

One example: The US Navy, for years has been trying to decomission the Cruisers. They are outdated and no longer viable in the new realm of warfare we face. The O&M funds that would be saved by this move is a very large factor (in the billions I think). But Congress has told the Navy they CANNOT cut the cruisers. Congress has basically said, "You have to cut a large chunk of money from your budget but you can't cut it where you think it will be the best, you have to cut it here, there, or over there." Congress has purposefully made the choice between "here", "there", and "over there" a very painful thing to swallow. The reason they're doing this is because they are trying to prove a point to their political opponents. The only people being hurt by this are the workers and warfighters. Congress, at the end of the day, goes home to their mansion in DC area, kicks back on their big leather sofa and watches their 84" TV while their butler serves them dinner and beverages...



FWIW, I saw the writing on the wall years ago and have been prepping. I have enough food to cover me for a while so if I have to stop trips to the grocery store I will. I have enough emergency fund set back to carry me well into this even if it's extended or the cuts go deeper. I feel sorry for the people that over-extended themselves and won't weather it so well. I hope for the best for them. It's unfortunate that DoD has chosen to do this 1 day/wk because you can't claim unemployment when they do it that way. Had they done the furlough in one large chunk people would at least be able to get a small relief in the form of an unemployment check...

 

[ViperJock]

Wow, I totally forgot to prep for the sequestration! I know there are some INGO memebers that prepped way more than they had to for this so I am now calling on you to help me out. Please sell me your gold and silver at pre-Obama prices. You should be ashamed of yourself for hoarding precious metals and other hard assets while the rest of us are forced to go out to eat and pay for Cable TV.

If you don't have any silver to sell, I will pay you cents on the dollar for any equities or landholdings you might have more of than you need.

Please PM me to share the wealth, thanks!

 

[CountryBoy19]

On a lighter note, since this seems to be a laughing matter for some because they don't think it will impact them, here is a funny "furlough song". It wasn't written for this particular furlough but it's kinda catchy...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVvm5YgJSbo

Also, don't forget your furlough shirt: Furlough T Shirts | Furlough Shirts & Tee's - CafePress

 

[ViperJock]

On a lighter note, since this seems to be a laughing matter for some because they don't think it will impact them, here is a funny "furlough song". It wasn't written for this particular furlough but it's kinda catchy...

Also, don't forget your furlough shirt: Furlough T Shirts | Furlough Shirts & Tee's - CafePress

Two things:
1. If you can't laugh at yourself, who can you laugh at? As a wise man once said "It takes a big man to cry. But It takes a bigger man to laugh at that man."
--Handy. SNL.

2. Budget cuts affect us all. It will affect the economy etc. BUT right now we need to take the medicine. We have to tighten our belts or we are really going to crash. Most of us realize that the sequestration, while less than ideal is better than the alternative and we recognize that the apocalypse was not pending on the sequestration. Most of us private sector guys are already feeling the benefits of Obama care and the poor economy and we don't see why government workers should be immune to it. Now if we could only put the White House and Congress on Pay for performance and sequestration....

 

[jgreiner]

After listening to Obama and Biden this past couple of weeks, I expected to wake up this morning to the end of the world. Surprise.....nothing happened.

 

[ArcadiaGP]

Some good quotes I've found.

"Sequester cannibals are now pretending they're delivering flowers. Do they really think I'll fall for that again? I miss my wife."

"You expect me to pay for something like that? On a day like today?!"

"I just noticed a piece of trash blew into my yard.... sequester friday..."

"I went into a gas station to buy a twinkie. There were none. Sequester Friday..."

 

[roisigns]

Pay cuts for DoD don't start until April.

 

[in625shooter]

Pay cuts for DoD don't start until April.

Let me add April is the start date for all civilian employees for the furlogh's to start. They have 30 days from the issuance of the letters which was this week for most. But it can't be implemented until approx 30 days after the "sequester" date hit's which is today!

 

[jb1911]

After listening to Obama and Biden this past couple of weeks, I expected to wake up this morning to the end of the world. Surprise.....nothing happened.

You mean this is just photoshop?

 

[rvb]

The fraud here isn't in the magnitude of the cuts relative to the budget, but that the cuts somehow affect how much the agencies and administrations have in their budgets at this time. The cuts apply to future increases, not to current amounts, nor would they reduce the budget for next year. They would reduce the amount of increase next year over what they have this year.

The real fraud is the scare tactic of threatening these furloughs and cessation of services. They already have the money (borrowed, of course) to pay for each and every thing that happens this year and each and every hour worked by each and every employee and contractor this year. That money was stolen and borrowed a long time ago and they already have it.

The misprepresentation is deplorable. Every time sequestration is discussed in the news, they discuss the "X% cuts" to the agencies/programs. It is VERY misleading. The following Yahoo article does just that initially, however it is one of the FEW to actually point out that "The federal government will still spend more money than it did last year."

6 Questions (and Answers) About the Sequester - Yahoo! News

We are supposed to be in full panic mode because the govt will spend MORE than last yeat, but not as much as it WANTS to? The worst case should be that govt performance is on par w/ last year.

Why are they talking furlows then? Well, simply because it's easy to tell your people to stay home. Easier than cancelling contracts (and paying penalties), especially if the budget comes later in the year and the contracts can go through. Easier than making the hard decisions about what programs to cut or re-schedule.

It makes it LOOK like the end of the world if the public sees less TSA agents or some local FBI office is shut down one day of the week. And it scares the thousands of gov employees [voters] into supporting the increased spending for their job's sake; yet the entitlement programs are spared so the recipients [voters] dont feel the pain. The agencies want to make the cuts look as bad as possible because if business goes on as usual (eg make the cuts by waiting a year to upgrade their printers) then they can't JUSTIFY their rediculous budgets. Politic-ing at all levels.

The gov employees are being used as pawns. The tax payers are marks in the budget shell game. And the country's fiscal standing goes farther down the toilet.

-rvb

 

[Small's]

Its a decrease in the increase of spending. Lookup baseline budgeting. Or youtube it.