Guest Post: Y2K Revisited With Sequestration

Y2K Revisited With Sequestration

By Colonel Donald J. Myers USMC(Ret)

The sky is falling, the sky is falling, the sky is falling!!! Do you remember all of the fear that was created during 1999 about what was about to occur when the clock hit midnight on New Years Eve and the year turned to 2000? Banks would collapse, airplanes would fall out of the sky, and computers all over the world would crash. That and many more disasters were predicted because computers were set to identify the last two numbers of the year and no plans had been developed to recognize 00. Midnight occurred and very few problems arose. Do you remember?

Now we have sequestration scheduled to occur in two days as I write this article. The fear is unbelievable about what will happen. Because of the sequester, the federal government will be required to reduce spending that amounts to less than three percent of the total budget ($44 billion). However for the entire year, the government will increase spending over what it spent last year. Remember that last year we spent over a trillion dollars more than we brought in on taxes, and we did the same for the previous three years. We have added nearly five trillion dollars to the debt in the past four years.

This sequester has been in the works for 18 months and the only thing that our leaders in Washington have done is talk about it and point fingers. President Obama has warned in travels all over the country that teachers will be laid off, the border will be less secure, police and firemen will be laid off, Head Start will be reduced, airports will close, etc, etc. On Wednesday, thousands of illegal aliens were released from jail because of impending cuts. The White House press secretary reported that it had no input concerning that decision but it was the Homeland Security Administration. Shortly thereafter Homeland Security declared that individuals from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials decided to release these individuals. The buck is really being passed around.

The Associated Press (AP) reported on Wednesday that the latest poll shows that only 25% of the people are paying any attention to sequestration reporting. They are tired of all the fear mongering that constantly takes place from one crisis to the next. They say that this is the norm for Washington and at the last minute they make some type of deal. Are they finally catching on to the game?

Recently, President Obama, former Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid all stated that spending was not a problem. Unfortunately, I believe that they truly do not think that it is. They remind me of people who think that if they have blank checks in their check book, then they have money. Rational educated people know that that is foolish thinking. Deficits have been a problem in the past and each time growth of the economy came to the rescue. Unfortunately with this administration the ability of the economy to grow has been significantly hampered because of all the new regulations that are constantly being introduced.

As a Marine officer I learned early on that the troops responded best when they were told the truth no matter how bad it was. I'm sure that my previous four years as an enlisted Marine contributed to that thought process. I am not unique in that thought and I believe that most Americans feel the same. We are adults and we want the truth from our political leaders. We do not appreciate it when they try to get our support by trying to scare us with false data. It is well past the time when our politicians need to live in the real world. I doubt if any of them run their own lives as they do the government.

*****

I remember Y2K well. Folks were amazed that my wife and I went to Scotland for Hogmanay (New Year's Eve) in 1999. We knew it was BS. Had a wonderful time. ~Bob Hall