Thursday, February 28, 2013

Local USF Professor's mythical sequestor

The Trib today published Myths at play in the shadow of sequester
from Michael T. Gibbons, an associate professor at the University of South Florida's Department of Government and International Affairs.  
Among the things that many tea partiers want to eliminate is the public school system (HUH???? We want more choice and get the feds out…)
Others see the economic crisis it would cause as a collective punishment of what it sees as the moral failings of the American people. One can think of many names for this, but the term "patriotism" does not come to my mind.
The administration has repeatedly compromised, much to the frustration of the progressive left, only to have the Republicans "pocket" the compromise and pretend no concessions have been made.
Really?  Really?  He's not much of a scholar, as he's not conversant on current affairs, and is totally incapable of acknowledging other points of view.  Professor Gibbons is the one living in the mythical world.

Here's some food for thought for the Professor from life in the real world:
  • The Senate has failed to pass a budget for 4 straight years which would give fiscal discipline to the process and eliminate the need for gimmicks such as this one.
  • It's not a real cut, just a reduction of the increase from last year.
  • Only 2.4% of the annual budget. Regular Americans have tightened their belts with the recent 2% Social Security tax increase, not to mention gasoline prices.  The federal government should too. 
  • We are obviously now too dependent on govt if this tiny decrease in the rate of increase will "cause Armageddon." 
  • This is more evidence we do to much done at federal level.  Let state/local keep more tax money & make local budget decisions, and more local control.
  • We cut the  waste throughout government, including Defense, much like private business and state and local governments have been doing.
  • The President can choose what to fund; choosing cuts that will cause pain so he can score political points. This is just fear mongering that the Professor is piling on.
  • It was president's idea.  If the Professor cared about the scholarly truth he'd mention its origin. Disgraceful the President is lying about it's origin, and its  shameful the Professor is protectin the Liar-in-Chief.
  • The House has passed at least two bills that would have avoided these indiscriminate cuts - Senate ignored them.
  • We should NOT do baseline budget, we should do zero-based - everything should be justified every year. Not that difficult. Just like us in the real world.
Professor Gibbons is the one living in the mythical world.

He's teaching the next generation.

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