Sequestration: The Failure of Elected Officials to Work Together

The dreaded “Sequester” has made landfall, but what exactly is it and how does it affect the average citizen? Taking a by the numbers approach to this political mess can hopefully help break it down into easily understandable terms present the situation as it is: a failure on the part of our elected officials to work together for the sake of the country.
The “Sequestration”, according to the official White House website, is a series of unwanted tax cuts mandated by law that were placed above the heads of congress and the president sort of like a tremendous stone weight meant to incentivise them to work together and act to reduce the national deficit by $4 trillion, $2.5 trillion of which had already been achieved in the previous decade. As the deadline drew near the supposed reaction was that congressional members and the president would come together to avert what seemed to be basically a self inflicted wound (the stone falling on top of the nation’s head). Ideally, the deficit reduction would be a balanced combination of spending cuts and tax increases that presented political gains for both parties and gave the American people what they needed. Unfortunately, the executive and legislative branches of our government failed to reach an agreement and thus the question must be asked, who will be affected by the drastic cuts? Programs like Medicaid, Social Security, Food Stamps, and general welfare are exempt from the sequester. Likewise, military personnel are protected from the cost saving measures, though other features of the federal budget concerning the Defense Department and the various other national security agencies’ discretionary budgets are in danger of downsizing. Other areas that will feel the effect of the mandatory slashes are labor, health care, education, transportation, etc.
If the sequestration remains in place unchanged the economic outlook is dire. This year alone, its projected that some 750,000 jobs will be lost due to the severe cuts, and national economic growth will slow by .6%. Its up to the president and congress to act if the U.S. is going to be able to avoid regression into economic sluggishness.