The Sequester is Good for You, and Other GOP Lies

[WilliamPitt]

House Speaker John Boehner.
(Photo: Jonathan Ernst / The New York Times)

The Sequester is Good for You, and Other GOP Lies
By William Rivers Pitt
Truthout | Op-Ed

Thursday 07 March 2013

Let me see if I have this right.

A generation of GOP trickle-down economic thievery depth-charged the American economy and set the nation trembling on the edge of collapse, combined a decade ago with massive GOP-supported tax cuts and two brutally expensive GOP-supported wars that eviscerated the Clinton budget surplus. This was followed by five years of the GOP filibustering everything and the sink in the men's room in order to thwart any genuine economic recovery, because they did not want the president to get the credit, and be damned to the people. Today, that same GOP has forced the country into this sequester nonsense because, according to their bastard gospel, closing tax loopholes for rich people and corporations in order to curb the debt they accrued makes the Baby Jesus cry.

The teeth of the sequester have not yet fully sunk in - most workers facing furloughs receive a 30-day notice before getting booted off the job - but the pain is on the way. Before too much time passes, there will be fewer air traffic controllers in the towers, so if you plan on flying later in the year, make sure your will is up to date...and bring a good book, because fewer controllers means less flights, and long delays for everyone, everywhere.

Looming cuts and furloughs at the Environmental Protection Agency will, among other things, hinder that agency's ability to warn people when smog levels in cities become dangerous to children, the elderly and the infirm. But pollution isn't really a problem, because climate change is a myth, right? Just take shallow breaths, and think happy thoughts.

The cuts and furloughs slated to affect the US Department of Agriculture will make things interesting during barbecue season, when a dearth of food inspectors will force the closure of meat and poultry plants all across the country. But hey, lower inspection rates and the inevitable food shortages to follow are the price we pay for this glorious new smaller government, yes? Keep those damn government hands off your hamburger, and if you get an e-coli infection and your organs start to fail, there's always Obamacare to catch you before you fall. Oh, and remember: the GOP is the party of small business, so if you own or work at a restaurant that loses business because the food shortages are screwing the inventory, just remember that this is all for your own good.

The rest: http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/14983-the-sequester-is-good-for-you-and-other-gop-lies