Sequestration Madness

Let the cuts begin.  What I have been hearing and reading is that these $85 billion in cuts will bring America to its knees.  Sequestration will cause planes to fall from the sky; lawlessness in the streets (I thought that is what we have now, especially in Chicago.); no meat inspectors; no IRS agents (According to the Administration that will happen only after April 15. Someone has to collect all those tax dollars.); no teachers; no national defense; no health care; no police; and the list goes on-and-on.  Another words, one scare tactic after another.  Just complete madness. Then, we have the absurd coming from Maxine Waters, U.S. Representative for California's 43 Congressional District.  She states that sequestration has the potential for the U.S. to lose 170 million jobs. The problem with that statement, Ms. Waters, is that we only have something like 140 million jobs in American.  But, then again, why bother with facts when one can simply make things up as facts!

Speaking of facts, let's look at these facts.  Our national debt is $16,687,289,180,215.37 (That is in trillions.).  The sequestration amount is $85 billion, or 0.5% of our national debt.  For the 2013 fiscal year, our federal government will spend $3.6 trillion.  Sequestration is $85 billion, or approximately 2.3% of what the government will spend. 

Let me put this whole sequestration in perspective using Apple as an example.  At the end of December 2012, Apple had a total of $137.1 billion in cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities.  One company has $137.1 billion in cash, and our government is screaming bloody murder in having to find $85 billion in cuts.  Will someone please tell me why our government can not find $85 billion to cut out of the $3.6 trillion in spending?  By the way, government spending will actually go up again this fiscal year, not go down, and tax revenues are at a record level.  I just thought you would like some additional, "real" facts.