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Sequester Grounds Blue Angels
SchrodingerZ writes "The Blue Angels squadron, known for their intricate and death-defying aerial demonstrations, has canceled all scheduled air shows for the rest of the year. The United States Navy, which controls the Blue Angels, has reported that the grounding comes from the massive rollbacks in spending, due to the 85 billion dollar sequestration given by the federal government. In a statement from the office of the Commander Naval Air Forces in San Diego, the Navy said, 'Recognizing budget realities, current Defense policy states that outreach events can only be supported with local assets at no cost to the governmen.' Currently, the cost of an air show is above $100,000. This story came just a week after the announcement by the Air Force that their Thunderbird shows will also be canceled."
This is a GREAT place to stop spending money we don't have. If ticket sales can't cover the costs, fuck 'em.
There are no cuts in the so-called "sequester cuts". A cut is when you spend less than you did previously.
What the Navy's doing here is known in DC as the "washington monument gambit". Any time a bureaucracy doesn't get as much money as they want, they pick out the most popular thing that they do, and claim that they can't do it anymore due to lack of funds, in hopes that this will garner public support for their whole pork barrel. For the department of the Interior, it's closing the washington monument. For the white house, it's cutting off white house tours.
The truth is, if the navy could afford the Blue Angels last year, they can afford it this year.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
My town has 2 Blue Angels shows a year and its huge for business, especially the show on our beach. It's one of the busiest weekends on the beach as people will try to get out there but end up sitting in traffic all day and some miss the show doing it. I hope all businesses who benefit from air shows are coming up with other events to support themselves. I'd actually still go just for a civilian air show (don't get me wrong, the Blues are cool) since you see different planes, pilots and stunts every year.
Chewbacon
The Bible is like Wikipedia: written by a bunch of people and verifiable by questionable sources.
PLENTY OF MONEY FOR WELFAIR BABIES
Filter error: Don't use so many caps. It's like LIEBERALISM.
The last link that purports to be about the Thunderbirds is really an article about the Blue Angels. With the exception of one line at the end saying: btw, the T-Birds are also cancelling shows.
Here is (was) their performance schedule.
Boy does my wife ever love not getting paid for the next month or so.
The Daily Show said congressmen have given themselves immunity to the sequester so their salaries are not affected. http://takingnote.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/04/02/look-whos-not-taking-a-pay-cut/
If it's huge for business, they should f-ing pay for it.
Fucking socialist fascist business owners and their lackeys.
ironic captcha: military
Yeah don't stop the trillion dollar wars.
Don't stop the money printing.
Don't stop the money wasting.
Stop the stupid air shows, close down airport towers..
Austerity for all except the bankers, the war mongers blah..
You know, the Wonderbolts would be a lot cheaper to operate...
You are in the same mess as Britain was in the 70's. Spending far more than you can afford, people on the government payroll, playing games to demand more money (Navy in this case), taxes too low to pay for it all. Printing money to keep afloat.
You need Mrs T! (Cue the 'A" theme song.... ta ta da dah du di dahhh).
She'll slash spending, raise taxes, close loss making subsidized industry, turn things around. And once she's done that, you can blame her for every social ill as if she caused any of the collapse she fixed.
I bet she could trim a good $50 billion off that annual $180 billion budget the Navy has no problem.
What they really need to do is end the F-35 and F22 Raptor programs. That will free up "assloads" of money.
* Carthago Delenda Est *
Well if they're not flying the jets, they should sell them and use the money elsewhere. And if they're not flying those planes, the pilots should be sacked so they find work elsewhere too.
If you're right, and local business needs air shows for tourism, a cheaper private solution will come along. They'll need planes and pilots and lucky for them the Navy doesn't need them anymore!
You seem to suggest the Navy does this for free (or at a huge loss), but that means no private sector air displays will ever occur, because the Navy is undercutting them on price. Cut that gravy train, sack the pilots, sell the planes, the private industry will make air show troupes.
Imagine if the Navy did Cirque Du Soleil for free? It would be crap, boring and repetitive, but no other circus troupe would succeed because the Navy one is free. Navy has no place doing air shows, it only did them for self promotion, if it doesn't need that self promotion then it doesn't need the pilots and their jets.
"studies estimates nearly $2 billion dollars goes to illegal aliens annually"
Navy Budget is $180 billion, and that's just the Navy part, not the army, Airforce, NSA CIA etc.
At some point you gotta bite the bullet and trim it, not 'pretend trim it', not 'increase it this time (again) and promise to cut it in future', CUT IT!
Suppose illegal immigrants DO cost $2 billion, and you find a way to save that without shifting it to mortuary costs, and road cleaning services and border patrol costs. YOU NEED TO CUT $900 BILLION A YEAR off the budget! Get a grip, stop making excuses, stop blaming other, CUT SPENDING, RAISE TAXES, get on and fix it already!
"Stop peddling that argument. Private solutions are never cheaper."
Navy is not in the entertainment business. If they're running Blue Angels at a loss, then they should stop. Sell the planes, sack the pilots. If it makes a profit, cancelling them would be dumb. So they're running Blue Angels at a loss.
How about Navy boat trips? If they're so much cheaper than private boat trips, I'm sure they'll put the competition out of business!
If Army is so cheap, how come I can hire a clown for my daughter birthday from the private sector? Where's the Army clown here to entertain my daughter for cheaper, yet still more profit? How about a pony ride from the cavalry division?
Navy are not in the entertainment business, they have no business running airshows at a loss anyway. The planes need to go, the pilots need to go, that should be done by the private sector.
USA is not a socialist planned economy where gravy train military gets all the money it wants and runs theatres and shows and pony rides and whatever. Those planes are not fit for military use and withdrawing them, shows the Navy confirms that!
Saves $$$... and - not flying as much - helps save the Earth (a bit...)
i think you're confusing socialism and capitalism
socialism is what obama is doing... forcefully taking money of private citizens and distributing it
capitalism is private citizens engaging in business for voluntary payment by consumers
the business owners are behaving like capitalists should... the government voluntarily supports their business... the businesses don't force the government to do things for them
if the government is corrupt to the point where influence can be bought, then the government has too much influence and should be shrunk so that there is nothing to corrupt
capitalist businesses are no different to individuals... they act in their own interest (being that of their owners), which is no different to those that receive income from welfare, food stamps, etc or those that would pick up a greenback off the street and keep it for themselves
they don't do it because they are corrupt and greedy... they do it because they would be stupid not to take a bite when the government dangles a carrot in front of them
The sequestration portrayed in the press as reckless budget slashing is anything but. In actuality, it's a slightly lower rate of increase.
For 2013, the announced 'sequestration' is $84B in a $3600B budget which is an increase of about $140B over last year's. So by the official numbers, the 'cuts' are actually an increase of ~$56B. To go on, half of that $84B decrease actually doesn't take place until later years but is represented in 2013 via accounting sleight-of-hand. So in the end those crazy sequestration cuts - closing air-traffic towers, grounding the Blue Angels, and ending White House tours - are really a $100B increase over last year.
The United States Navy, which controls the Blue Angels, has reported that the grounding comes from the massive rollbacks in spending ...
Defense spending outlays (including "overseas contingency operations" for Iraq and Afghanistan) will be reduced from $670.3 billion in 2012 to approximately $627.6 billion in 2013, a decrease of $42.7 billion or 6.4%.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_Sequestration
Definition of Massive (adj)
1.bulky: large, solid, and heavy
2.comparatively large: large in comparison with what is typical or usual
3.large-scale: extremely large in amount, degree, or scope
(Bing.com)
A 6.4% cut doesn't qualify as "massive."
What does this have to do with technology? Or is it just another example of writers on Slashdot trying to push a liberal agenda?
Wouldn't a "Blue Drones" show be cheaper, and still fuel business at the public events? Besides, the kids could get a chance at flying live, in special booths on the ground. Fully sublimated, of course.
Why not have all games with references to them pay them for property/image/badass/copyrightloopandhalfimmelman rights? For their upkeep? Like the Policeman's Ball fund?
there's no need to change anything, and you can just keep spendign like the year before. No need for furloughs, no need to ground planes, etc.
Yes, when you get MORE money, there's no NEED to furlough anyone. Furloughs can, however, be great political theatre for politicians who want to get even more of your money next year.
Exactly. Every department or agency affected by the sequester is getting 1.5% more than they did the previous year. It doesn't take a whole lot of math to work out that the furloughs and closings must be a load of nonsense. Adjusted for inflation (that's the 1.5%) they have just as much funding this year as they did last. The notion then that they don't have enough funds to do everything they did last year is clearly absurd. But more to the specific point, when I was a kid I thought the Blue Angels were about the coolest people/planes in the universe. Inspiring thoughts of patriotism and instilling a desire for service. Of course I eventually realized how early you have to get up in the morning if you are in the military, so I went into IT.
socialism is what obama is doing... forcefully taking money of private citizens and distributing it
If this is your definition of Socialism, then every country in the entire world with any sort of functioning government is Socialist, since they *all* take money 'forcefully' (taxation) and distribute it (by providing services etc.).
However, I expect your *real* definition of Socialism is actually "forcefully taking money of private citizens and distributing it *in ways I do not agree with*."
(If you are really an anarchist and believe there should be no taxes and thus no government, including no tax-funded police, military, roads etc. then I apologize for mis-characterising you - but you are a nutter in that case)
That's not true. Some departments were not included in the sequester, and a few are taking actual reductions. Just not many of them, and it isn't an actual cut overall.
"Pulling together is the aim of despotism and tyranny! Free men pull in all sorts of directions" -- Havelock Vetinari
They have mostly been taking the easy approach of cutting highly visible services to show how painful the cuts are instead of cutting actual waste and bloat.
Competition Good, Monopoly Bad.
800K people are taking a 20% pay cut via furloughs, in the DoD alone, just for the hell of it? Thats over 9 billion dollars in lost wages, for the hell of it? Its nonsense?
No you jsut dont know what youre talking about.
All of you ignorant "its not a cut" morons know nothing about the budget or the sequestration. If you did, you wouldnt keep spewing that BS.
It's simple.
There is Discretionary spending and Mandatory spending. And most of the agencies of the government are funded by a combination of both Mandatory and Discretionary monies, in various ratios. this includes the defense budget. The sequestration ONLY DEALS WITH DISCRETIONARY SPENDING. But when you talk about "everyone having more money" you are talking about THE ENTIRE BUDGET. You are conflating two whole pies, and ignoring the changes in how all the little individual pieces are spent.
All of the increases are in the Mandatory spending, and they happen because...its "mandatory". Stuff like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, congressional salaries, military personel pay. Laid down by law, no choice, must be in the budget, and it must paid. the only way to change this side of the budget is by changing the laws requiring the money be spent, which the sequester didnt do.
All of the cuts (ie, sequestration) is in the Discretionary spending. this is the stuff that actually gets negotiated every year when the congress and prez get together and try to pass a budget; the mandatory stuff is in the budget too, but since they cant change that, they dont argue about it. This is the only part they actually fight over. the DoD (the civilian agency in charge of hte miliatry) falls largely under Discretionary. That's why the 800,000 (800k) civil service employees of the DoD are ALL taking mandatory furloughs of 1 day a week, resulting in a 20% pay cuts. For ALL of them. The air shows (being public relations stuff, not essential to operations) also falls under the discretionary portion of the defense budget. Also under discretionary spending is most of the funding for scientific research, and education.
so again: the overall budget is bigger because the mandatory side, laid down by law, got bigger (mostly because social security). the discretionary side is the only thing the sequester affects, and is where all the cuts are.
The guy who said the election was rigged won the presidency with the second-most votes.
THUNDERBIRDS ARE *NOT* GO!
oops. i split that paragrah in two and introduced an error. should say that the veterans affairs portion of the defense budget is mandatory spending, not personel pay. personel pay is still under the discretionary side.
The guy who said the election was rigged won the presidency with the second-most votes.
...this makes me very happy -- I'll be able to hear myself think during Fleet Week!
$ echo "ceci n'est pas une pipe" | sed -Ee 's/(eci n|pas )//g'
I'd like to see the Pentagon / Military-Industrial-Congressional Complex budget cut to about 15% to 25% of what it currently is.
They are paid for with training money, and they are very good training. Hitting the time on target to the second is a skillset for every airframe we do flyovers with. For example, refeuling helicopters, the minimum acceptable is to hit the air refeuling control point between on time and 30 seconds late. Good is -0 +5 seconds. Also, on the way there, we typically plan and fly a new low-level navigation route, and on the way back fly instrument approaches at new airfields to beat up the copilot. This is very valuable training, and cancelling the flyovers is in the "make it hurt" category, not the "save money" category.
Tell that to the people taking a forced 20% pay cut for the rest of the year
Why don't you go tell THAT to the millions of people who stopped looking for jobs after years of trying?
Why does the government think it should be immune from reductions the private sector has been going through for years?
The truth is that while SOME departments get cuts like you mentioned, much of that is not really needed but done for political reasons. Most departments are getting more money than last year, the cuts are just a reduction in increase. You'd have to ask the department heads why that means furloughs exactly...
We should give the entire federal structure another 10% haircut (of what they had as a budget LAST YEAR) to force them to evaluate what REALLY could be reduced instead of just doing the spite reductions.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
And those golf trips and vacations every 4 months Obama takes? How much do those cost taxpayers? Like a million dollars each flight?
Any sentient being knows Obama threatened to veto congressional bills to give him some budgeting discretion in the sequester, so he can blame Republicans for the arbitrary cuts. So far, based on polls, the public doesn't seem to be falling for it, despite the media not reporting this key little fact.
Slashdot "libertarians": Small government for me, big government for those I disagree with. -1, I disagree with you
Yet there is still funding for a star filled "Memphis soul" party at the White House for the obama's and their friends? I don't think they should spend on either, but there is some massively stupid spending going on, yet they cut things that the public actually gets to take part in or is a service to.
Thank you very much for this informative post. I was not aware the two types of spending work this way.
Please mod up!
Posting AC as I blew all my mod points in this thread already.
of course all governments are socialist... you just figured that out did you?
have you ever heard of a capitalist government?
countries only become socialist when the government gets so big and destroys free market capitalism to the point where the country's economy consists primarily of government activity
If Obama averages a golf trip and vacation every 4 months then that would make the number of trips taken around 16
Obama averages a lot more trips than that. You aren't counting his golf outings, his record number of fundraisers (or taxpayer-paid political events), some of which he flies in for an hour and leaves.
He certainly is not the king of vacation days. That honor falls to President George W. Bush
Not analogous, since Bush never presided over a sequester, let alone was one his idea, let alone did Bush threaten to veto a bill offering him budgeting discretion on a sequester, and then close the White House to tours and stop the Blue Angels, and then cry, "we have no money!"
Slashdot "libertarians": Small government for me, big government for those I disagree with. -1, I disagree with you
However, I expect your *real* definition of Socialism is actually "forcefully taking money of private citizens and distributing it *in ways I do not agree with*."
Your expectation is wrong. I have a good grasp of capitalism and socialism... my teachers are people who have been predicting and warning for years about much of the mess the US finds itself in. Peter Schiff is an economic genius and Ron Paul is a political genius, and their track record for being right speaks volumes over the consistency of fuck ups by Keynesian economists and liberal progressive leaders.
If you are really an anarchist and believe there should be no taxes and thus no government
I think you are mis-characterizing me... but I'm not an anarchist either, I'm a Libertarian, which does not mean there should be no government, but limited government... in accordance with the Constitution.
I encourage you to look up "Peter Schiff" and "Ron Paul" on YouTube and educate yourself :)
It isn't just a 20% pay cut. I wish it were for me & 206 others at my base, it's a 100% paycut as in we got laid off. The furloughs are only available to people who are actual goverment employess. Most bases however are ran on the backs of contractors and us contractors don't get a furlough option. Believe me, I would rather work 4 days a week than ZERO days a week, especially in this still floundering economy.