TCTI: Too Crazy Too Ignore
 Dave Ross
AP: b34acfa1-09cc-491c-a4cb-ee7f127bb78f
House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio walks away from reporters outside the White House in Washington, Friday, March 1, 2103, without taking questions, after a meeting with President Barack Obama and Congressional leaders regarding the automatic spending cuts. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

When politicians shrug

BY Dave Ross  on March 4, 2013 @ 5:47 am (Updated: 5:59 am - 3/4/13 )

CBS Correspondent Major Garrett put it perfectly - before now, spending cuts were theoretical. "Now they're going to start to get real and the public will have a real voice."

We Americans, as a group, agree that Congress wastes a lot of money - but individually we all want our government checks.

Along with a doctor for our children, a dignified retirement for our aging parents, a way to feed the destitute so they don't riot, trained rescuers in case the hurricane hits or the waters rise or the sinkhole opens, and above all, a general sense of order so we can build a good life that can't be arbitrarily snatched away.

But now the political system designed to balance all those things against the taxes needed to pay for them has broken down.

The noise from the lobbyists and alarmists and every little group with a finger in the pie and a website on the Internet has grown so loud that no one can figure out what's true and what's not. So we're going to run the experiment and see what happens.

"I don't think anyone really understands how the sequester is really going to work," said Speaker of the House John Boehner.

Not even the Speaker of the House knows because it's been a while since we've tested what happens when you make real cuts - cuts where federal workers actually stay home.

"We're out of road to kick the can down. I spent the last two-plus years trying to bring this town to address this problem. And it is going to be addressed," said Boehner.

And this means that what happens next depends on how you and I react in the coming weeks.

We're the lab rats; they've dropped us into the maze, and they've taken away $85.4 billion dollars worth of cheese.

Now they're waiting to see whether we cope or rebel. And if my metaphor is correct I believe at end we all get a free autopsy.

Dave Ross, KIRO Radio Talk Show Host
Dave Ross is co-host of The Ross & Burbank Show on KIRO Radio (weekdays 9-Noon) and never too far from the spotlight.
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Comments (120)


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  • HPD 5-0 wrote...
    You elected the wrong guy for President of the United States of America.
    March 4, 2013 2:59 pm
    This is, in essence, the ultimate issue. The useful idiots elected an idiot who believes only in big gov't. Period. Problem is the reality of economics is diametrically opposed to socialism, as Mrs Thatcher so aptly put it. But Barry and the Dims cannot come to terms that their vaunted political philosophy is a total and utter failure. To do so would spell an end to the DimoRatic Party and they know it. SO better to keep feeding the beast until either it dies or there is no more food to steal.
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  • HPD 5-0 wrote...
    From a good book I'm reading:
    March 4, 2013 3:08 pm
    ...a democracy can exist only until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From the moment that realization takes hold, history shows that the majority of the people will always vote for the candidate promising the most goodies from the public treasury." Now how does THAT sound like? The author also says; "History also shows us that once a democracy goes down this road, things never end well. Each and every single time, the democracy collapses. It always happens. It collapses over loose fiscal policy, and democracy is always followed by dictatorship. And guess what the dictator promises?...When democracy collapses, fear, violence and uncertainty fill the void; chaos. And that is what the dictator preys upon. They are so terrified they will agree to trade anything-even their LIBERTY-in exchange for oder. But when order is restored, freedom and liberty are never seen by those citizens again." Think it's any different now?
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  • gaymarriedchristianfromhollywood wrote...
    ten bucks says the book was wriiten by
    March 4, 2013 6:37 pm
    Bill o'reilly, Sean hannity, Ann coulter, or brad Thor. Those 4 people are eating the most sour grapes about obamas win. So who's the author?
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  • ron prevost wrote...
    Gaygirl - you might be spot on about Hannity and Coulter, but.....
    March 4, 2013 8:32 pm
    if you've actually ever listened to Bill O'Reilly, he's of a far different bent. .......... And before you think it, Glenn Beck is long gone from FOX (as too nutty) and Sara Palin has been fired.

    But Bill's book quote sounds like Will Durant, but I'm not about to look it up.

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  • gaymarriedchristianfromhollywood wrote...
    I used to think so. But after the election all he could talk
    March 4, 2013 8:47 pm
    about was how the people voted for Obama because of all the goodies he was offering them. I'm still kind of bummed. I voted for Obama and I didn't get a goodie bag. I'm still waiting for a fruit basket or something...but no, I know what you mean. O'Reilly is definitely less annoying than the other yahoos and more watchable. I used to have a friend who was a member of the Alaska Federation of Republican Women and I went to have lunch at her house. This woman named Linda (I think) she was the head of the senate at the time and Palin was Governor. Anyways, Palin called and Linda took the call and the whole time Palin was talking on the phone Linda kept eating chips and being really disrespectful, and when she hung up she just kept saying that Palin was a pig. I didn't care for Palin when I lived in Alaska and she wasn't ready to be Governor let alone President, but Republicans in Alaska cannot stand her.
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  • rational wrote...
    Progressive economics
    March 4, 2013 5:37 pm
    The progressive idea of economic stimulation is like a man who has a plate with half a pie on it who then moves the half pie from one plate to another and claims they have created more pie because they have 2 halves of a pie apparently not grasping that they have taken the pie from the first plate.
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  • DesertRez wrote...
    The fact that
    March 5, 2013 6:23 am
    you all think the U.S. is a democracy is depressing....
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • It's me! Ha ha! wrote...
    Admittedly Oreilly is simply a Loon but Hannity and Coulter are Bomb throwing Loonies.
    March 5, 2013 6:23 am
    This from a Left wing Parrot Obama supporter!
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • William Lawn wrote...
    And, once again, another post that disproves any notion that conservatives are smarter than liberals
    March 5, 2013 4:14 pm
    Democrats are "low information voters"?

    Can you imagine having an emergency and having this lunatic show up?

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  • HPD 5-0 wrote...
    Those with below 70 IQ are too stupid to comprehend the truth of the message, and call whose who speak the truth "dorks".
    March 5, 2013 9:45 am
    Yes, those with no argument to refute or no itelligence will resort to petulant name calling, personal insults and lies. See Owebama and gayguy for examples.
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  • William Lawn wrote...
    Sort of like you just did?
    March 5, 2013 4:18 pm
    A union member, public employee.

    You can call names, like your idiot fireman sidekick?

    Suckling at the teat of government while bashing it.

    Kick over the trough after you have finishing gorging.

    You people are just too funny.

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  • HPD 5-0 wrote...
    my IQ is just under 140, which puts me in the 99th percentile
    March 5, 2013 9:50 am
    AHAHAHAHA!!! Insults people for trying to prove how smart they are then tells everyone what he thinks his imaginary IQ is! Me thinks thow does't protest too much!!!!
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  • gaymarriedchristianfromhollywood wrote...
    I'm a girl moron.
    March 5, 2013 10:51 am
    And that is the first time I've referenced my intelligence in any way, unlike others here who go and on and on and on about all the crap they've done, all the books they've read, how smart they are, how stupid other people are, making constant reference to other people's IQ and their own. But yeah okay, lets just say I made it up. I'm not going to spend another post convincing imbeciles I'm smarter than them.
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  • William Lawn wrote...
    "thow does't protest too much"???!!!??
    March 5, 2013 4:22 pm
    Really, you fraking moron?

    Really?

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
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