Sequestration In Pictures

I'm a simple guy. I like pretty pictures in place of long, boring blocks of text. So I decided to explain sequestration using images supplemented with just a few words to help explain things.

First, a brief background note: sequestration is the notion that because congress cannot make wise decisions about the budget, it will instead force itself to make unwise decisions about the budget.

If this confuses you, just remember the hostage scene from Blazing Saddles.


I'm sure you've heard all the bullshit rhetoric about how sequestration means TEOTWAWKI.

Nonsense. Here's a chart to help you keep things in perspective.

Notice how overall spending continues to increase, even after the 'meat cleaver' sequestration cuts.

That's not to say, however, that some areas of government won't feel some pain. One of the truly negative aspects of sequestration is that the cuts are not spread out evenly across the board, but rather are aimed at specific targets. (Keep in mind that the baseline cut in spending is around 2.3%. Areas in the chart below that are above that line are disproportionally affected.)

The next chart provides a better way to illustrate the true impact of the sequestration cuts by comparing the percentage of the cuts felt by each area to its percentage of the overall budget. It becomes painfully obvious that defense spending gets well and truly slashed, while other areas are largely spared.

While we're at it, let's not forget whose idea this was in the first place. No matter how much he tries to deny it, and no matter how much his media cronies try to cover it up, it was barack hussein obama who came up with this plan to neuter our military under the guise of deficit reduction.

So the next time you hear obama ranting and raving about how children will starve, cities will burn, and democrats criminals will run wild in the street, just remember this line from Shakespeare's Macbeth:

"...it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."

Or, in pictures: