Today Begins the Sequester

I don't even know what to say, frankly, besides fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck:

Today is the day lawmakers have known about since August 2011: the day those forced federal spending cuts kick in.

This Friday is also a day many never expected would come. After all, the cuts known as sequestration were designed to be so draconian that lawmakers would be forced to compromise and avoid them.

But they haven't, and as lawmakers left Washington to begin their weekend on Thursday, so left any prospect of avoiding the cuts that President Barack Obama and his administration have warned will lead to long airport lines and fewer air traffic safety controllers; federal government furloughs and layoffs; cuts to food inspection and border security programs; and education funding decreases that will shut young students out of Head Start programs.

For all of the dire warnings, Obama acknowledged Wednesday that the cuts are "not a cliff, but it is a tumble downward." He'll set the cuts in motion on Friday with a stroke of his pen.

...After Obama signs the order, the Office of Management and Budget will send to Congress a detailed accounting of the cuts – how much from which agencies and which accounts. Every "program, project and activity" has to be trimmed without regard for what it is, according to the OMB.

Those who are employed by the government or rely on federal agencies' spending are expected to feel the effects first. From there, the effects of the sequester will ripple outward across the economy.

President Obama is scheduled to meet with Congressional leaders for an 11th hour meeting this morning to try to avoid going over the cliff tumble downward, but it doesn't sound promising:

"I'm happy to discuss other ideas to keep our commitment to reducing Washington spending at today's meeting," [Senate Minority Leader Republican Mitch McConnell] said. "But there will be no last-minute, back-room deal and absolutely no agreement to increase taxes."

Instead of the richest among us paying a little bit more, the poorest among us will suffer to subsidize their privilege.

There is no end to conservatives' greed.