It has been three weeks now since all of America awakened to learn their president and elected leaders could not figure out how to cut spending. The Sequester, the auto budget cuts they – those same elected leaders – put in place, was now taking affect and untold millions were going to be affected by the “devastating” reductions. How have you been impacted?
Most of us saw the president lay out claims of what was going to happen and how all of us would feel the pain in many areas. As it turns out so far, the real pain has only been inflicted by an administration that is trying to make you feel some pain.
When you look at the sequester it is a 2.76% reduction in government spending this year. Don’t worry about what the additional years hold, the “biggest” impact is this year. It is said that the government will have to cut $85.4 BILLION dollars from spending this year. That is a huge amount of money. However, the government “budget” (it is hard calling it a budget), is $3.08 TRILLION. Another estimate shows government spending to be $3.55 TRILLION which would lessen the impact to be 2.39% this year. Really, that’s it? That’s all they could come up with. Remember, we are getting closer to being $17 TRILLION in DEBT.
And then here comes the president telling you how bad the cuts will be and just to show you how bad they stop the tours of the White House? To truly show the problem with the government’s sequestration, is to point out the that cuts are not across the board but hit our defense very hard and then lesser amounts to other areas.
Ask yourself, what would a 3% reduction (lets round it off) in your monthly spending be and what would the impact be? For someone spending $4,000 each month they would have to find $120 to cut – YES, $120 per month. Could you do it? What would the pain be? A few less soft drinks, going out to eat a little less often, fewer movies to watch, a reduction to your Christmas budget? For most people it could be done with little impact.
The real problem is that it is not enough to get you or the government on track. The problem is the overall financial situation warrants more than a sequester can do. There has to be some serious financial surgery to stop the hemorrhaging. Something serious has to be done.
Does something need to be done in your financial plan? What are you doing? Have you tried other things that are not working and you think a personal sequestration might help?