[scott_s]

The sequester is not a joke. A friend of mine knows postdocs whose NIH funded projects were cut 20%, immediately, when the sequester went into effect. Another friend of mine will be in next class to start with the FBI, but they've been put off until 2014. To be clear, the FBI is not training new agents right now.

The sequester is real, but it may take more time for the effects to reverberate throughout the country.

[crusso]

The sequestration has only been painful because the Administration wants to make an example of any efforts to reduce the size of the government. Funny how NIH projects could have a 20% cut when the $44 Billion reduction this year as a result of sequestration is 1% of the actual budget. Where did that other 19% come from? Further, the sequestration only reduced the increase on the baseline budget. We're still going to be spending more this year than we did last year.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2013/02/27/sequest...

[scott_s]

Funny how NIH projects could have a 20% cut when the $44 Billion reduction this year as a result of sequestration is 1% of the actual budget. Where did that other 19% come from?

That is a complete non-sequitur. The amount a grant from one federal entity is reduced is not limited to the same percentage as the total federal budget.

[etherael]

Totally true, if as a politician you want to manipulate your power base into believing that a small reduction in your power is a really bad move, you should make every possible administrative move to maximise the direct pain they will feel from that reduction.

Keep the fat and cut the muscle makes great sense when you are commanded to drop 1.5% of mass and you want to make the case you're going to lose a ton of strength.

That really doesn't help your case.

[TheCowboy]

The idea that this pain is a joke is pretty unfounded. It is based upon the idea that there is waste and waste and waste everywhere. If that is the case, then it should be pretty easy to target such wasteful spending, but that isn't exactly the case at all.

Also, these cuts aren't even close to what are desired by a certain segment of law makers. If that desired austerity were to be put in place, and you think agencies at trying to make an examples now, their current examples would pale in comparison to what we would see.

If it is so easy to say an agency doesn't need to cut X when they can cut Y, then pass a bill cutting Y.

[crusso]

It is based upon the idea that there is waste and waste and waste everywhere

I don't know how educated people concerned about politics and the economic health of this country could not read these kinds of stories that come over the wire and know that there's an extraordinary amount of waste in the Federal government that could easily be cut.

http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2011-02-19/news/fl-federal-...

Unfortunately, so many voters have their heads in the sand and don't know what's going on - or worse yet, they're doing like you are here and propagating misinformation.

[simonh]

If only there had been a few Republican presidents in power some time in the last couple of decades to do something about all this waste.

[crusso]

And there's a large part of the problem - your team, my team politics. Democrat, Republican, doesn't really matter. What matters is people who not only understand economics but have our best interests in mind and don't create a mess.