Friday, March 15, 2013

NEWS 6,738

THE NEWS or
"JOURNALISM 101"
(Expanded - March 18, 2013)

NBC Nightly News "studio set" at "Rock Center" (30 Rockefeller Plaza or Center - The GE Building in New York City"). NBC is the oldest News Broadcasting Company in the US going on air in 1926 and broadcasting until today. Their news division has set the tone in American Broadcasting and has long since been a leader in the field with their trend setting TV programming, "Today", "NBC Nightly News" and the "Tonight Show".

* Special thanks to "Google Images", Dictionary.com, Wikipedia.com "The Austin American-Statesman" and all the men and women who have and are working in the field of Journalism.

by Felicity Blaze Noodleman

Felicity here again for the Noodleman Group. How do you get your news? Television, News Papers, the Internet and BLOGS, Radio or a weekly News Magazines like “Time” or “Newsweek”? This week were writing about the news and how the news is collected, written and published. We’ll also look at how the news affects our everyday lives.

There are more choices than ever for getting the news these days. From top
left to bottom right - News Papers and News Magazines, Radio News
(veteran Edward R. Murro during the golden age of radio - he also worked in
television 1938-'65), Internet coverage, Television Network News Programs and
inside the TV News Control Room.

Here at “Noodleman” we’re a fledgling news Blog hoping to grow and expand in the future. We write about the news as we see it. We stand on our Constitutional First Amendment Rights. No one tells us what to write – no political party bosses, no union representatives, no advertisers, and no special interest groups!

At Noodleman we try to explore a story and confirm the story from more than one news source. We explore the background information from sources like “Wikipedia”, the “Guinness Book of Records“or others. Hopefully with this approach we will have a better understanding of what’s happening with the news. We seek to see the clear and unvarnished truth about a subject. I must also confess that we offer some commentary on a story separate and apart from the news.

The Printed Page

To begin; how is news collected and which decisions determine what will be news in the media? This can be a simple but sometimes complex answer. Writing is where it all begins and has always been referred to as Journalism. Whether printed in news publication form or broadcast on air there is always a written source. So it would stand to reason news begins at the beginning with an event. An event can be defined with the following synonyms from “Dictionary.com”:

accident, act, action, advent, adventure, affair, appearance, business, calamity, case, catastrophe, celebration, ceremony, chance, circumstance, coincidence, conjuncture, crisis, deed, development, emergency, episode, experience, exploit, fact, function, holiday, incident, juncture, marvel, matter, milestone, miracle, misfortune, mishap, mistake, occasion, occurrence, pass, phase, phenomenon, predicament, proceeding, shift, situation, story, thing*, tide, transaction, triumph, turn, wonder

As journalists report on these stories we always try to answer five questions – the “WHO, WHAT, WHY, WHERE AND HOW” of a story. Just the facts! In answering these questions journalists inform their readers and audience without bias or prejudice as they report a the news. These are the boundaries for good journalist and separate news from propaganda. Propaganda has no place in a free Democracy as it dictates what its readers and audience is to see and think.

For over a century news organizations have banded together forming “Syndicates” in an effort to collect the news stories of the day and to distribute the news to a national and world wide audience. This is the heart of the news business. The oldest of the three syndicates we will discuss is the AP (“Associated Press” – founded 1846), “Reuters” (an English syndicate - founded 1851) and UPI (“United Press International” – founded in 1907 as “United Press Associates” and later changed in 1958 to UPI). These three syndicates are the most widely used and quoted by both printed and broadcast news organizations.

The Austin American-Statesman has four printing presses. There are three Goss/Metroliner presses which cost around $10 million each. And those are the smaller presses! The large printing press above is nicknamed “Big Blue” and was purchased from a company in Germany called KBA. This is the Statesman’s newest press and it was a $28 million project for the newspaper. The press itself cost $14 million. The press room actually had to be expanded to fit the huge Big Blue inside, which cost another $14 million. Big Blue is six stories high and more than 60 feet tall!

Using the AP as an example to illustrate how these syndicates formed and the role they play in disseminating the news as a cooperative between news papers and broadcast companies, we see a “two way street” concept to bring important news to the widest possible audience. Associated Press is a not-for-profit news cooperative formed in the spring of 1846 by five daily newspapers in New York City to share the cost of transmitting news. You could say the AP is the “Gateway to Knowledge and Wisdom”!

Newspapers and Broadcast members form the syndicate and are contributors sending their stories to be picked up by the “AP” which are then dispatched to other news agencies (Papers and Broadcasters) to be carried by their agencies under a byline such as (AP – Washington). Sometimes more than one story will be sent to the “AP” covering an event. Each story might contain more and different information. The “AP” sometimes will decide to make a “Re-write” story editing both stories into one and will usually run under a “AP” byline such as (AP staff writer Felicity Blaze Noodleman) and may dispatch all three stories. “UPI” and “Reuters” operate in a similar manner.

On Air or Broadcast News

Group photo of "On Air" news personalities at "ABC" . I'll only mention Barbara Walters
(front center) since she's a legend in the business. Barbara has worked all three of the
major TV Networks, beginning in 1961 at "CBS" as a news writer. She became a co-anchor
on the "NBC Today Show" in 1964, and has been at the news division of "ABC" since
1976 until the present.

Since the days of radio, broadcasters like “NBC” and “CBS” have formed their own syndicates or “Networks” sharing and supplying their affiliates with programming and news. In effect, they are a syndicate within a syndicate! Today in the television age, we now have more networks than ever with cable TV. Viewers have a multitude of choices – “NBC”, “CBS”, “ABC”, “FOX”, “CNN”, “PBS” and “MSNBC” who all have respectable news broadcasting programming. Of course with “On Air” news broadcasting we are able to receive the news instantaneously as it is happening. All together between these syndicates and networks we now have more news coverage than ever before.

The new man at CBC, Scott Pelley who replaced the short lived
Katie Couric on the "Evening News" Broadcasting since 1927 "CBS is also known
for their address in New York City at 51 West 52nd Street, at the corner of Sixth
Avenue (Avenue of the Americas) and simply referred to as "Black Rock".

Of the three major on air Broadcasting networks "NBC" and "CBS" are by far the oldest with "CBS" going on air one year after "NBC" (1926 & 1927) in New York City. "ABC" is the newest of the three major networks beginning their Broadcasting company in in 1943. While "NBC" and "CBS" have remained fairly stable in their corporate structure and ownership "ABC" has changed ownership several times. "ABC" was founded by Edward Noble, then becoming "Capital Cities" and is now part of the Walt Disney company in Los Angeles, CA.

Today; two other networks have evolved to become major players in the network news market.
"CNN", founded in 1980 by Ted Turner is a major player in news programing and has distinguished themselves with their in depth reporting and "one on one" interviews with the news makers of the day. The Fox Broadcasting Network was launched in 1986 by news Mogul Rupert Murdock and Berry Diller in Los Angeles,CA. No mater your preference in reporting and on air personalities, there is a wide range of choice for viewers today. Oh; and lets not forget the "PBS News Hour"!

The Internet and Computer Age

Now that we are in the 21^st. century and the Internet age, the traditional news publishers are struggling with declining readership. The economics of the printed page are difficult enough. Newspapers have had to raise prices, make their papers smaller while adding more features such as color photographs and some newspapers have gone to a three or four day week. Many news publications have simply suspended their publications opting to go online with a news site or go out of business all together. News magazines such as “Time” and “Newsweek” are also now feeling the crunch. On line newspapers and magazines are still evolving and experimenting with their formats. As a result, many are becoming better than ever. Broadcast TV and Radio networks have also expanded into Internet publishing so their audiences may follow a story or recheck the information at a later time.

Some Internet search engine's which can help us with researching
the news on line.

Above; two online sites for broadcasters who are publishing on line. (PBS and Fox News).
Below; two News Papers who have gone on line ("The Washington Post" and my hometown
newspaper "The Flint Journal" which has completely reinvented itself as "Michigan Live"
and cutting it's paper publishing to four days a week. It is now a cooperative with other
newspapers in the Michigan area).

Assessing Journalism

At this point I should like to write a little about my own experience in the media . In High School and College I participated in the radio classes and programs available in Broadcasting. I won't try to make that experience sound noble or give myself any great praise - truthfully I was just there to spin records. I wanted to work in radio as a DJ and I also learned to edited and read news on air. I even made some commercials, station promos and "Public Service Announcements"! As a staff photographer for “The Abilene Reporter News”, I have had pictures picked up by the “AP” and received an “AP” photo credit which was very exciting. Now today; I'm writing for "The Noodleman Group".

I was trained in Photography while in the US Air Force. I couldn't get enough training in the art and science of the craft and spent most of my free time with further reading and study while working on the Base newspaper "The Dyess Peacemaker" and working part time for the "Abilene Reporter News" in Abilene, TX. I love the still photos which came out of the newspapers and magazines down through the decades. A good photographer can capture the moment for a news event and produce a image of historical significance.

Many classic photographs have become icons and illustrate history. From the news magazines and newspapers from the golden age of photography, (1930's - 1960's). Publications such as Life (USA), Look (USA), Sports Illustrated (USA)) and newspapers (The Daily Mirror (London), The New York Daily News (New York) built their huge readerships and reputations largely on their use of photography, and photographers such as Robert Capa, Romano Cagnoni, Alfred Eisenstaedt, Margaret Bourke-White and W. Eugene Smith became well-known names. On the other hand, I almost detest broadcast news footage! The networks have some of the worst photography and video I have ever seen. It’s too bad television news hasn’t evolved to a stage of excellence yet!

This classic news photograph taken on February 23, 1945, by Joe Rosenthal. It depicts five United States Marines and a U.S. Navy corpsman raising the flag of the United States atop Mount Suribachi after the battle for the Iwo Jima in the South Pacific During WWI. This iconic image has been cast in bronze inspiring several statues.

This classic news photo illustrates just how wrong the press can be mistaken

as President Truman displays a copy of the "Chicago Daily Tribune" announcing

his defeat in the election upon his reelection to the Presidency in 1948 for another

term in the White House!

One other problem which I have become aware of in the news these days - maybe it's been there all along and I haven't noticed it - Journalists and TV Broadcasters seem to have a political bias! Because most Journalists are members of Unions they seem to "mirror" the views of their labor organizations. This is known as "filtering" or "coloring" the news to favor one political party over another. They also promote certain special interest groups who have issued "press releases" weather or not these groups are news worthy.

A famous example of news organizations reporting more than the news happened during the Vietnam War. Journalists began questioning the rational of the US Government and specifically President L.B. Johnson's administration for the long running involvement of the war in the South East Asia. This also carried over into President Nixon's administration. In Chicago,IL the Democrat's Political Convention in 1968 was the scene of protests and riots directed at the Democrats and their involvement with the Vietnam war.

"CBS" seemed to take the lead in this rebellion against the Government. Their news anchorman, Walter Cronkite, began to speak against the war in his broadcasts. "CBS" also had programing issues with one of it's entertainment programs, "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour", which portrayed the Johnson administration is an unfavorable light and had to be heavily censored.

At "CBS", the news division felt the focus of the "Vietnam War" story was shifting from the war itself to the inability of the US Government to apply a military solution in dealing with the Communist regime in N. Vietnam. President Johnson, a Democrat, was leading the country in a failing military campaign which was becoming a humane travesty.

Once again the Democrats are leading the country through another quagmire with a monstrous Federal Deficit which defies an economic solution. According to "US News & World Report" the interest being paid on the deficit dwarfs all other Government spending! Spending cuts are the clear solution and Democrats in Washington still insist on their same old "Tax and spend" philosophy. Noodleman feels the Federal Deficit is the biggest threat to American civil rights and our Constitutional freedoms today!

Walter Cronkite of "CBS" has been one of the most respected News Journalists ever
known as "the most trusted man in America". Walter began his career in Journalism
sometime between 1935 - '37 after leaving college working as a newspaper writer. He joined
Oklahoma radio station "WKY". He Joined the "United Press in 1937 and became a WWII
news corespondent. In 1950 Walter joined "CBS" beginning in their new TV News Division.
He retired from "CBS" in 1980 but remained active in broadcasting until his death in 2009.

The news keeps informed on so many levels. From Government issues, Weather, Traffic conditions, Sports, Finances, Entertainment and Home & Family living. The news rounds out our lives keeping us informed and up to date on living in general. Even the advertisement of a new product in the news can change our lives.

Finally when assessing news sources; as individuals who watch and read about the news in a free Democracy as our USA, we should always try to keep an open mind. Learn to "read between the lines" and ask questions while forming our opinions. When we have a problem with a story in the news, do our own research on the Internet to clarify issues and establish the historical background.

Of my own personal news preferences which I might mention curiously enough are; "The Washington Post" and "USA Today" newspapers, "Time" magazine, "NBC Nightly News" and "PBS" for television news. Finally but by no means last, "Google" for surfing the net. Oh yes; and I love "THE NOODLEMAN GROUP" on Google Blogger! It is traditional for Journalists to end an article with a "-30-" in red at the end of a story and that's how I would prefer to end this article!

-30-

It's all to easy for journalists to be influenced by unions, political organizations,
advertisers and even foreign governments which can "color and filter" the news.

* “The Noodleman Group” is pleased to announce that we are now carrying a link to the “USA Today” news site.We installed the “widget/gadget” August 20, and it will be carried as a regular feature on our site.Now you can read“Noodleman” and then check in to “USA Today” for all the up to date News, Weather, Sports and more!Just scroll all the way down to the bottom of our site and hit the “USA Today” hyperlinks.Enjoy!

The Noodleman Group is on Google "Blogger"!

Friday, March 8, 2013

SEQUESTER 6,543

THE "SEQUESTER"

President Barack Obama, flanked by House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio, left, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nev., speaks to reporters in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, Friday, Nov. 16, 2012, as he hosted meeting of the bipartisan, bicameral leadership of Congress to discuss the deficit and economy. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

* Special thanks to "The Washington Post", "Google Images", "Dictionary.com",
and "Wikipedia.com".

Dictionary.com

verb (used with object)

to remove or withdraw into solitude or retirement; seclude.

to remove or separate.

Law. to remove (property) temporarily from the possession of the owner; seize and hold, as the property and income of a debtor, until legal claims are satisfied.

International Law. to requisition, hold, and control (enemy property).

Origin:
1350–1400; Middle English sequestren < Latin sequestrāre to put in hands of a trustee, derivative of sequester trustee, depositary

Dictionary.com

by Felicity Blaze Noodleman

I'm Felicity and I write about politics and Government spending for the "Noodleman Group"! If there is one thing we are able to count on from the Democrats in Washington it is that; what ever they are doing it will cost us more in taxes, lies, wasteful spending and a pay raise for themselves while they are violating every ones civil and Constitutional rights.

Once again Democrats are wrangling with budget cuts they voted for in dealing with the massive "$$Trillion$$" dollar deficit. Democrats are clearly to blame for creating this deficit with wasteful spending, lack of oversight with their overinflated programs of every sort. We; the tax payers are handed the bill with interest which is astronomical. Our grandchildren will still be paying for this mess debt until they die!

This strange phenomenon is being referred to as the "Sequester" or "Sequestration". Have you heard about it yet? Many are bewildered by this name at first but eventually learn through the media that the “Sequester” has something to do with the Federal Budget. But wait a minute you might think to yourself, didn’t we just get over the “Physical Cliff” crisis in January? This should make us all wonder just what is going on in Congress and the Oval Office. This is where we will begin this week’s article!

Government budget cuts will have a big impact on

Federal Government employees.

The Federal Budget and its deficit seems to remind me of a revolving credit card account. As this card acquires more spending and adjustments to the cards payment plan, it is being financed by more and yet more interest. Very high interest. In essence, the account just keeps spinning round and round and out of control . . . what could happen next is anybody’s guess!

Now just for the record: Do you ever remember hearing anything like “Congress controls the "Power of the Purse” when you studied “American Civics” in school? What this expression means is that Congress has complete power over how the moneys of the US Government are handled. That’s it and that’s all! The President no matter what his political ideology has to work with Congress to get the kind of budget he and his party want.

The President signs or declines the budget which the Congress may then review and amend but may pass a budget and the Presidents signature is required by law - that is with the proper votes in both houses of Congress. Below is an article from Wikipedia explaining the fundamentals of Congressional spending using some recent historical examples of how this "Power of the Purse" and spending is controlled by Congress.

United States

The power of the purse plays a critical role in the relationship of the United States Congress and the President of the United States, and has been the main historic tool by which Congress can limit executive power. One of the most recent examples is the Foreign Assistance Act of 1974, which eliminated all military funding for the government of South Vietnam and thereby ended the Vietnam War. Other recent examples include limitations on military funding placed on Ronald Reagan by Congress, which led to the withdrawal of United States Marines from Lebanon.

Appropriation bills cannot originate in the Senate, but the Senate can amend appropriation bills that originate in the House.

The power of the purse in military affairs was famously subverted during the Iran-Contra scandal in the 1980s. Congress denied further aid to the Contras in Nicaragua. Unwilling to accept the will of Congress, members of the Reagan Administration solicited private donations, set up elaborate corporate schemes and brokered illegal arms deals with Iran in order to generate unofficial funds that could not be regulated by Congress.

Presently, budget limitations and using the power of the purse form a controversial part of discussion regarding Congressional opposition to the Iraq War. On March 23, 2007, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a supplemental war budget that imposed a timeline on the presence of American combat troops in Iraq, but the legislation was not passed.

The power of the purse has also been used to compel the U.S. states to pass laws, in cases where Congress does not have the desire or constitutional power to make it a federal matter. The most well-known example of this is regarding the drinking age, where Congress passed a law to withhold federal funds for highways in any state that did not raise the age to 21. Congress was not allowed to pass the law itself because the 21st Amendment (which ended Prohibition in the U.S.) gave control of alcohol to the states. In 2009, Congress considered similar legislation regarding texting while driving.

"Wikipedia.com"

President Obama signed the "Budget Control Act" in 2011 so in essence, the Politicians (Democrats) in Washington seem to be dragging their feet as they make these budget cuts effective. The Republicans have prepared a plan offering more flexibility in administrating the $85 Billion in cuts but Democrats are divided over even this! This game will be over on March 31, 2013 and the budget cuts will be enforce. But even having said all of that, these budget cuts are scheduled to take place over a number of years up through 2021.

Pie Charts.

The Federal budget has turned into one of the biggest political footballs I have ever seen. Both Democrats and Republicans are pointing the finger and playing the blame game with it. Why is this story so important? Federal tax dollars are your money and you have a say or vote on how the Government is spending them. This is the way things are in a representative democracy like ours in the US. Below is an article from "The Washington Post" with the best explanation defining the "Sequester" in explicit terms!

"The Washington Post"

The Sequester: Absolutely Everything You Could Possibly Need To Know, In One FAQ

Posted by Dylan Matthews on March 1, 2013 at 3:00 pm

Update: Happy sequester day! We’re republishing this in celebration of the holiday. Enjoy!

At the end of the month, the dreaded sequester is set to take effect. Hands up if you know what exactly that means — and be honest. Don’t worry, we’re here to set you straight. Follow along for answers to some of the most-asked questions about the impending cuts.

What is the sequester?

The sequester is a group of cuts to federal spending set to take effect March 1,

barring further congressional action.

Where Did It Come From?

President Obama signs the Budget Control Act into law. (Pete Souza/White House)

The sequester was originally passed as part of the Budget Control Act of 2011 (BCA), better known as the debt ceiling compromise.

It was intended to serve as incentive for the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction (aka the “Supercommittee”) to come to a deal to cut $1.5 trillion over 10 years. If the committee had done so, and Congress had passed it by Dec. 23, 2011, then the sequester would have been averted.
Obviously, that didn’t happen.

Wasn’t This Supposed To Happen At New Year’s?

President Obama, Vice President Biden and congressional leaders working out the
fiscal cliff deal, which would delay the sequester for two months.
(Pete Souza/White House)

Yes. The Budget Control Act originally stipulated that the sequester cuts would take effect at the beginning of 2013. Together with the expiration of the Bush tax cuts and the payroll tax cut, this would have amounted to a giant fiscal contraction, almost certainly throwing the United States into another recession. The combination of policies came to be known as “the fiscal cliff.”

A deal was reached to avert the cliff, in which the sequester was delayed to March 1.

What Gets Cut?

The cuts are evenly split between domestic and defense programs, with half affecting defense discretionary spending (weapons purchases, base operations, construction work, etc.) and the rest affecting both mandatory (which generally means regular payouts like Social Security or Medicaid) and discretionary domestic spending.

Only a few mandatory programs, like the unemployment trust fund and, most notably, Medicare (more specifically its provider payments) are affected. The bulk of cuts are borne by discretionary spending for either defense or domestic functions.

What Is Exempted?

Food stamps are exempt from the sequester. (For The Washington Post)

Most mandatory programs, like Medicaid and Social Security, and in particular low-income programs like Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF, or welfare) and the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP, or food stamps) were exempt from the sequester. However some low-income programs, most notably aid for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) and the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), are subject to cuts.

How Much Gets Cut?

The 2013 sequester includes:

$42.7 billion in defense cuts (a 7.9 percent cut).
$28.7 billion in domestic discretionary cuts (a 5.3 percent cut).
$9.9 billion in Medicare cuts (a 2 percent cut).
$4 billion in other mandatory cuts (a 5.8 percent cut to nondefense programs, and a 7.8 percent cut to mandatory defense programs).

That makes for a total of $85.4 billion in cuts. Note: numbers here updated to latest CBO figures; thanks to Center for Budget and Policy Priorities for noting the difference from initial OMB numbers.
More will be cut in 2014 and later; from 2014 to 2021, the sequester will cut $87 to $92 billion from the discretionary budget every year, and $109 billion total.

Will Any Programs Actually End?

No wasteful programs, like Alaska’s infamous Bridge to Nowhere (above),
will be eliminated. Instead, almost every program will see an across-the-board cut.
(Knik Arm Bridge and Toll Authority)

Nope. The sequester cuts discretionary spending across-the-board by $109.3 billion a year from 2014-2021 and $85.4 billion in 2013. But no programs are actually eliminated. The effect is to reduce the scale and scope of existing programs rather than to zero out any of them.

What Notable Programs Get Cut?

The National Institutes of Health will see budget cuts in the billions if the sequester goes through. (J. Scott Applewhite/Associated Press)

Here are just a few. Update: Note that these are rough estimates based on numbers put out by OMB before the fiscal cliff deal:

Aircraft purchases by the Air Force and Navy are cut by $3.5 billion.
Military operations across the services are cut by about $13.5 billion.
Military research is cut by $6.3 billion.
The National Institutes of Health get cut by $1.6 billion.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are cut by about $323 million.
Border security is cut by about $581 million.
Immigration enforcement is cut by about $323 million.
Airport security is cut by about $323 million.
Head Start gets cut by $406 million, kicking 70,000 kids out of the program.
FEMA’s disaster relief budget is cut by $375 million.
Public housing support is cut by about $1.94 billion.
The FDA is cut by $206 million.
NASA gets cut by $970 million.
Special education is cut by $840 million.
The Energy Department’s program for securing our nukes is cut by $650 million.
The National Science Foundation gets cut by about $388 million.
The FBI gets cut by $480 million.
The federal prison system gets cut by $355 million.
State Department diplomatic functions are cut by $650 million.
Global health programs are cut by $433 million; the Millenium Challenge Corp. sees a $46 million cut, and USAID a cut of about $291 million.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is cut by $55 million.
The SEC is cut by $75.6 million.
The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum is cut by $2.6 million.
The Library of Congress is cut by $31 million.
The Patent and Trademark office is cut by $156 million.

Will Military Personnel See Their Pay or Benefits Cut?

President Obama greets Australian troops, who are actually totally safe from the sequester.
(Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images)

Pay: no. Benefits: yes. While military salaries are exempt from the sequester, benefits like tuition assistance and the TRICARE program (which provides health care to personnel and their families, among others) are not.

Will Federal Employee Salaries Get Cut?

The federal employees in this picture are going to be very disappointed by how much the sequester punishes the public. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Technically, no, but effectively, yes. The Congressional Research Service has written that a sequester may not “reduce or have the effect of reducing the rate of pay an employee is entitled to” under their federal pay scale. However, the sequester is likely to cause furloughs, which amount to unpaid time off, or, basically, a pay cut.

Will Unemployment Insurance Be Affected?

“Near the relief office – I see my people” (AP)

Partly yes, partly no. The regular unemployment insurance program, which is administered at the state level and paid for with state taxes on employers, is exempt. But Emergency Unemployment Compensation, an extension of the regular program enacted on June 30, 2008 to combat the recession, is not exempt. In its state fact-sheets laying out the impact of the sequester, the White House estimated that payouts under EUC would drop by almost 11 percent, with the long-term unemployed affected by the cuts losing an average of $450.

What About Our National Parks?

Yup, they get cut too. The Department of Interior will have to furlough safety workers and put off summer hiring, resulting in less available camping sites and park trails. They will also shutter 128 of the country’s 561 national wildlife refuges (or 22.8 percent of the total) and discontinue visiting at all such refuges.

What Do The Animals Think About It?

(Meghan Murphy/Smithsonian’s National Zoo)

Why don’t you ask them?

How Many People Will Lose Their Jobs?

Depends who you ask. Stephen Fuller, an economist at the libertarian-minded George Mason University, puts the number at 2.14 million jobs lost. That includes the direct loss of 325,693 jobs from defense cuts (including 48,147 civilian employees at the DoD) and 420,529 jobs from non-defense cuts (including 229,116 federal workers — the rest, by and large, are contractors). The rest of the jobs losses are indirect, resulting in a 1.5 point increase in the unemployment rate. However, Fuller’s estimates predate the delay in the sequester passed in December, and other analysts are more measured. Macroeconomic Advisers estimates the sequester will add only 0.25 points to the unemployment rate, a sixth of the impact Fuller predicts.

Do Some States See More Cuts?

According to the OMB, yes. My colleagues Emily Chow, Kat Downs, Katie Park, Kenneth W. Smith Jr. and Tim Richardson put together a great interactive feature detailing the cuts to specific states, available here (you can see a snapshot above).

How Much Flexibility Do Agency Heads Have?

According to the OMB of 1991, buoys like this one are federal budget “activities.” (NOAA)

Not much. The sequester must be applied evenly to every “program, project, and activity.” What is a program, or a project, or an activity, you ask? No one really knows, and OMB will have to define that. But the last time we did a sequester, an example of an activity was an individual buoy floating in the Chesapeke Bay. That buoy had to be cut by 5 percent. So no, administrators don’t have much flexibility. Their hands are largely tied.

What Will This Do To The Economy?

The CBO estimates that the combined federal fiscal tightening taking place in 2013
is knocking 1.5 points off GDP growth for the year. Of that, about ⁵/₈ of a percent
(or 0.565%) is due to the sequester.

Macroeconomic Advisers similarly estimates that the sequester will shave off 0.6 points from the year’s growth rate. George Mason economist Stephen Fuller’s estimates are more dramatic, putting the loss of 2013 GDP at $215 billion, reducing the growth rate of GDP by two thirds. However, Fuller’s estimates precede the shrinking of the sequester.

What Does Obama Want To Do About It?

President Obama has been vague on how he’d replace the sequester.
(Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP)

President Obama has been less specific than his colleagues in Congress on how he wants to see the sequester replaced, but he has suggested that, in lieu of a bigger deficit reduction deal, he wants to see the 2013 sequester replaced with a package of tax increases (including loophole closures and increases on the wealthy) and spending cuts.

What Do Democrats In Congress Want To Do About It?

Sens. Patty Murray (seated, left) released Senate Democrats’ sequester plan.
(Mike Theiler/Reuters)

House Democrats, led by Budget Committee ranking member Chris Van Hollen, proposed replacing the $85 billion in 2013 sequester cuts with a mix of tax increases — including a “Buffett rule”-style minimum tax on income above $1 million and repeal of tax subsidies for oil companies — and spending cuts, notably including a reduction in farm subsidy payments to farmers and an increase in flood insurance premiums.
Most of these policies would be spread over a decade rather than falling entirely in 2013.

Senate Democrats, led by Budget Committee Chairwoman Patty Murray, introduced the American Family Economic Protection Act, which replaces the 2013 sequester with $110 billion in spending cuts and tax increases, spread out over the course of a decade. Like the House plan, these policies include a “Buffett rule,” the closure of tax loopholes for oil companies and cuts to farm subsidies. Additionally, the Senate bill cuts military spending in excess of the sequester’s cuts.

Both the Senate and House Democrats’ plans allow the sequester to take effect at the beginning of 2014.

What Do Republicans In Congress Want To Do About It?

House Speaker John Boehner, right, has laid out the Republican position on replacing the sequester. (Joshua Roberts/Bloomberg)

As part of John Boehner’s “plan B” approach to avoiding the fiscal cliff (embarked upon after initial talks with the White House broke down), the House on Dec. 20, 2012, passed the Spending Reduction Act of 2012. The plan would have replaced the 2013 defense sequester with a variety of spending cuts, including cuts to food stamps, the Affordable Care Act and Dodd-Frank (including eliminating the “orderly liquidation authority” at the center of the legislation). It would have reduced the size of the domestic sequester in proportion to the $19 billion in discretionary savings included in the bill.

Republicans have conceded that they won’t be able to pass the bill again, even in the House, but it provides a model for what Republicans want in a temporary replacement: no tax increases, no defense cuts and considerable domestic spending reductions.

What Do Outside Groups Want To Do About It?

The AARP (whose activists are pictured here) is among many groups resisting
the sequester’s domestic cuts. (Melina Mara/The Washington Post)

Just about every interest group wants to stop the sequester and just about none wants to see it take effect. Aerospace and defense companies, along with universities reliant on defense research funding, have launched Second to None, a coalition battling the defense cuts. A group of almost three thousand organizations, including the NAACP, AARP, Children’s Defense Fund, the Wilderness Society, Greenpeace, Human Rights Campaign, the Innocence Project, and many, many more, have warned about the impact of the non-defense discretionary cuts in the sequester. Physicians and medical research organizations, including the American Medical Association, the American Pediatrics Association and many others, are resisting the discretionary cuts to medical research, and in particular the National Institutes of Health. Liberal groups like MoveOn and the Working Families Party are also getting in on the action.

The Tea Party-affiliated FreedomWorks has put out a letter calling for ObamaCare to be defunded so as to match the expected post-sequester spending level without letting the sequester take effect.

"The Washington Post"

As I said at the beginning of the article, I like the way "The Washington Post" covered the "Sequester" issue - it was very similar to the style we use here at Noodleman. Well that brings us up to date on the "Sequester" and the budget antics in Washington. Wouldn't it be nice if we had a President who was leading the nation "Forward"! I'm Felicity for the "Noodleman Group and next week we will be examining the "NEWS" and how it is reported in the United States. Have a great week end!

Rub-a-dub-dub

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Rub-A-Dub-Dub" is an English language nursery rhyme.

Rub a dub dub,
Three fools in a tub,
And who do you think they be?
The butcher, the baker,
The candlestick maker.
Turn them out, knaves all three.

James Orchard Halliwell Version