Sequester's Eve

At the stroke of midnight tonight, the much ballyhooed sequester goes into effect. The sequester - that series of across-the-board, mandatory budget cuts being forced upon the witting and unwitting alike - will either feel like a slap on the wrist or a sucker punch to the gut. As for me, I think one side is seriously overstating the impact, while the other side may in fact be understating it. I'm not inclined to follow Henny Penny and his band of friendly fowl, but neither am I naïve enough to think there's not a fox waiting to take advantage of the moment. Even though the cuts amount to a paltry 2% of the annual "budget" (ha), these cuts WILL have an impact as the map below indicates. How much of an impact is really a matter of degree.


The above map from the Tax Foundation leaves much to be desired, as it does not explicitly illustrate the origin and nature of the federal funding that the states receive. But it does show that every single state of the Union depends in part on federal funds to supplement revenue at the state level. Now as I understand it, the sequester is essentially an across-the-board reduction (and practically, it only reduces the projected increase in spending, but that's another matter). What that means is that a state like Mississippi, which relies on federal outlay to fulfill almost half (!) its revenue requirements for services, could potentially have a harder time absorbing the cuts than a state like North Dakota, which only relies on federal outlay for 26% of its revenue needs. The sequester will not in itself evenly and equally reduce federal outlays to the states by 2%, but every state WILL feel its impact, some more than others.

By no means am I suggesting that states should strive to be 0%. There's nothing inherently wrong with federal money flowing to the states. It is another argument for another time whether it is fiscally responsible for states to be grossly dependent on federal funding. What I am suggesting is that as long as states do depend on federal funds to balance their budgets, any cuts that come out of Washington ARE going to have an impact. Services and benefits WILL be reduced, or other revenue will have to be found (state and local tax increases) to perpetuate those services. Defense cuts will impact local economies, the degree of which will depend on the level of dependency a given local economy has on such funding.

I find it likely that at some level, everyone is going to be touched in some way by spending cuts. At the individual level, for some, it could be devastating - loss of job, benefits, etc. Others might only experience more hassle and delays in dealing with government driven programs and services. But at the 50,000 ft level, for the overall good of our Nation's fiscal health, the pain can be a good and necessary pain. Do I like the WAY it's being handled? Absolutely not, as I again state that this poorly planned, across-the-board approach is a blind, reckless approach to reducing spending. But if it works, it might in the long run be worth the pain. Because I'll tell you this: suffering the effects of a 2% cut is far preferable to a full economic collapse that will undoubtedly result from continued runaway spending and debt.

Now, it would be nice if Washington was smart enough to realize that spending cuts would actually be much easier to handle if it wasn't suffocating the economy with over-regulation and over-manipulation of the market.

See you on the other side. Because come March 27th, we'll be doing this again. Except then, we'll be talking shutdown.

Accio Hogwarts!

I'm almost 42 years old, yet I am not ashamed to say:

I want one!


Check out the gallery too.

A Feel-Good Story for Today

Finding a good news story buried among the doom and gloom headlines can be a tough business. When you do run across them, they often end up being isolated local stories that are nice to read, but are likely forgotten as soon as you click the next link.

I saw one today however that may stick with me a bit longer, if only because it gives hope that our generation - and the next generation - might yet turn out all right. Worst case, there's a candle shining in the darkness.

An unemployed teenager who embarked on a 10-mile walk through the snow for a job interview saw his dedication pay off after another restaurant owner, impressed with his work ethic, offered him a job at his business.

…

“I said, well how come you’re not on the bus?” Mr Bouvier said. “He said, 'I can’t afford the bus until I get a job.’

“I’m thinking to myself, here’s a kid walking almost 10 miles in the ice and slush and snow for the hope of a job at minimum wage. That’s the kind of story your parents used to tell, my parents used to tell.”

Read the whole thing. I'm glad this young man found a job, and I'm glad the restaurant owner was able to provide an opportunity for him. I know minimum wage may not seem like much, and the higher it goes, the less likely there will be jobs for teens and young adults. But it is nice to know that sometimes things work out. Character, perseverance and work ethic really do matter. Here's hoping this arrangement works out for both. It sounds like it just might. And if it does, the re-telling of this tale will undoubtedly grow and resonate over time. (Ten miles in the snow? That's just too easy.)

A Note on the Sequester

As much as I loathe the idea of dipping my toe into the cesspool of national politics on this frigid three-day weekend, allow me a quick thought on the looming budget cuts known as the "sequester." As you may recall, the sequester is a series of forced spending cuts written into the Budget Control Act of 2011. Basically, the sequester provision was written in as a failsafe in the event that Congress failed to reach a budget agreement that satisfactorily reduced the deficit by $1.2 trillion over 10 years. Despite the protestations you may hear in the news, it doesn't matter where the idea for the sequester provision originated. In the end, the Republican-led House and the Democrat-led Senate passed the bill, and the president signed it into law. All bear responsibility for the idea.

If there's any blame to be had, you'd be better served focusing on the fiscal irresponsibility of the Democrats for failing to even attempt to pass a budget in over 4 years, which by the way is their Constitutional responsibility. The House continues to write and pass budgets that get ignored by the Senate. We can beat this dead horse all day, but the fact is, the press doesn't care, and the American people enable this behavior by continuing to vote the way they do.

As to the sequester itself, despite the risk it may represent to my own livelihood, I really can't say I'm opposed to it. Our government cannot continue indefinitely spending money it doesn't have. And while I think it disproportionately puts our national interest at risk, given the drastic impact it will have on our defense and military readiness, maybe forcing down some ill-tasting medicine will bring back a measure of seriousness to the critical near and long term fiscal issues facing this nation.

Of course, there are some who will never take it seriously. Consider the comments of former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, speaking in the context of the sequester's impact to congressional pay (emphasis mine):

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Thursday that she opposes a cut in congressional pay because it would diminish the dignity of lawmakers' jobs.

"I don't think we should do it; I think we should respect the work we do," Pelosi told reporters in the Capitol. "I think it's necessary for us to have the dignity of the job that we have rewarded."

Wow. We shouldn't cut congressional pay because it would undermine their dignity. Talk about a sense of entitlement. In my career, I've been very blessed. Yet I have also experienced pay cuts and a layoff. While I certainly remember learning to check my ego through those experiences, I'd like to think I didn't lose my dignity in the process.

Dignity is not found in the title or the position, but rather in the man or woman who fills it. This truth applies no matter what "station" one has, if you choose to consider such.

We have to stop kicking the can down the road. We have to break the cycle. If the sequester is painful, it is only because we chose to ignore our fiscal imbalance for far too long. But we'll get through it. Whether we learn anything from it, however, remains to be seen.

A Title Goes Here

Sorry, folks. I've been absolutely buried by a corporate relocation, a flurry of decision making on the house, and a final review on a proposal. As a result, I now have the mental acuity of a bowl of oatmeal. No room to process sequestration, North Korea nukes, or an asteroid fly-by.

So here's a pretty picture instead. TTFN.

News From the Groundhog

And the groundhog came up from his hole, turned his eyes toward the skies, capturing in view the early glare of the sun against shingled slope and brick façade, to the pile of broken cinder, wherein he turned and declared to all who would hear, "I have risen and I have seen, and therefore I proclaim: Six more weeks of rental." To which the builder replied, "Well, maybe seven or eight." And the clouds came, and the sleet and snow began to fall.

It occurs to me that it has been a couple of months since I last provided an update on Chase Manor 2.0. A great deal of progress has been made, to include the completion of the bricking, hanging drywall, stairways and rails, and trim work. There's a new garage floor (with a significant defect that'll need to be repaired), garage doors and openers, and built-in bookcases in the bonus room upstairs. The Hardieplank siding is finally up at the front door and on the backside where the deck will be, ready to be painted when it is warm enough to do so.

Interior painting is about to begin (hopefully), to be followed by flooring, cabinets, countertops, deck construction, low voltage finishing, bath fixtures and landscaping. We had hoped to be in by the one year anniversary, but that is no longer in the cards. If things go well the next few weeks, we may be able to get a certificate of occupancy by mid-March or so.

The garage exterior. The keystones are new - we didn't have those the first time.

We changed the column design in the great room / foyer / dining room from a cylindrical design to what you see here. Not entirely sure about it, but maybe it'll grow on me. One change not pictured, is that the trim at the top of the column was reduced in size, so that it is not quite as obnoxious as you see here.

The new fireplace mantle design. Lower than the first by about 6 inches or so.

And now to the bookcases. In the original house, the built-in bookcases spanned the length of the bonus room wall. Each set of shelves was painstakingly sanded and painted (by me), with the backpanel painted the wall color and the shelf faces painted the trim. This produced a wonderful effect that I really enjoyed. However, the new roof truss construction forced a change to a narrower cavity design to fit between the trusses. Given this constraint, we opted for fewer shelves across the wall, giving us the corners back and a little more wall space. Fewer books, to be sure, but we will now have a long basement wall for standalone bookshelves if we so desire. And yes, much to the painter's relief, these new shelves will be trim color, including the back panels. The additional wall space eliminates the need to paint the backpanels separately.

Below is a picture of the original bookcase wall design.

Yes, I was hung up on the bookcases. But I'm over it now. Really. (You believe that, right?)

Not much else to say at this point, other than we are very ready to have this finished. The sleet and snow mix have stopped now, leaving just the lightest of dustings on the ground and ice on the roads. Here's hoping the next two months fly by.