CHICKS ON THE RIGHT ON GOVERNMENT SPENDING

Obama Wants You To Suffer. There's Really No Other Way To Spin This.

Written by Mockarena

You know, it shouldn’t really matter if you are conservative or liberal when you’re being completely played, right? And yet, I don’t hear liberals complaining that Obama is totally using the sequester to cause totally unnecessary pain to people. Why do they think that’s ok?

According to this, the FFA has furloughed air traffic controllers, causing all sorts of flight delays, and they’re blaming it on the sequester. Republicans are rightly accusing the Obama administration of cutting stuff that causes as much inconvenience to the average American as possible, while spending money on completely useless crap. It’s the same nonsense that Obama pulled with shutting down the White House during schools’ spring break. And yet, liberals didn’t complain about that either.

The FAA could have cut their budget in a zillion other places. But they didn’t, because what kind of message would it send to Obamazombies if practical budget cuts were made that didn’t actually impact travelers? OMG THEY WOULD REALIZE IT’S ACTUALLY POSSIBLE TO CUT SPENDING WITHOUT IT BEING ALL THAT PAINFUL. And we can’t have that, now can we.

According to this, the furlough involves every air traffic controller being laid off for one day out of every 10. This will apparently save $600 million this fiscal year. The White House is perfectly able to choose other cuts instead, like to the $500 million they spend on “consultants” for example. I don’t know about you all, but it seems to me that air traffic controllers are sliiiiiiiiiiiiiightly more important than "consultants." The FAA also spends $325 million on office supplies and travel. Are they Actually Suggesting that they can’t make ANY cuts there? Please.

And this link gives even more detail on this complete SHAM. "Ponder this logic, if that's the right word: The sequester cuts about $637 million from the FAA, which is less than 4% of its $15.9 billion 2012 budget, and it limits the agency to what it spent in 2010. The White House decided to translate this 4% cut that it has the legal discretion to avoid into a 10% cut for air traffic controllers. Though controllers will be furloughed for one of every 10 working days, four of every 10 flights won't arrive on time."

But it gets even worse:

The FAA projects the delays will rob one out of every three travellers of up to four hours of their lives waiting at the major hubs. Congress passed a law in 2009 that makes such delays illegal, at least if they are the responsibility of an airline. Under President Obama's "passenger bill of rights," the carriers are fined millions of dollars per plane that sits on the tarmac for more than three hours. But sauce for the goose is apparently an open bar for the FAA gander.

The White House claims the sequester applies to the budget category known as "projects, programs and activities" and thus it lacks flexibility. Not so: This is a political pose to make the sequester more disruptive. Legally speaking, the sequester applies at a more general level known as "accounts." The air traffic account includes 15,000 controllers out of 31,000 employees. The White House could keep the controllers on duty simply by allocating more furlough days to these other non-essential workers.

And if you needed any more evidence that Obama and his team are only out to use scare tactics about the sequester for their own political advantage, then you should know that two GOP senators have written bills specifically to clarify Obama’s authority in making spending decisions, and the Senate Democrats have blocked those bills. Because, as the earlier sourcelink accurately states, “making smart choices about federal spending would spoil the fun of creating flight delays and then blaming Republicans.”

And meanwhile, if you look at the Dept of Transportation’s website, one of the top stories recently was to announce a nearly $500 million grant program that will be focused on “making communities more livable and sustainable.” WTF?!?! They’ve also announced a “Women in Transportation History Online Exhibit.”

So, you know, we have that. You might not be able to make it to your destination on time, and you might be stuck in airports for hours, but at least you can check out an exhibit on women in transportation history. PRIORITIES.

This ought to make you absolutely furious no matter what your ideology. You are BEING USED, people. A 5% reduction in FUTURE SPENDING (read: not existing spending) is causing countless flights to be delayed. This doesn’t affect Obama and the rest of his administration since they’re using Air Force One and other private aircraft This affects YOU. And it’s on purpose.

But liberals will accept it like the sheep that they are, and not even question it.

GAWD.