Tomorrow is the day for sequestration.
And if you still aren’t sure what sequestration is, one of the better features explaining the across-the-board spending cuts comes from Niraj Chokshi of the National Journal.
So what is it, you might (or should) ask?
Chokshi: “The idea was simple: Schedule automatic cuts for the future that were so harmful to everybody that Congress would be compelled to implement better, smarter cuts before they hit.”
Why do so many people hate it?
Chokshi: “Make no mistake; a lot of people in both parties want to cut spending. The reason so many people hate sequestration, though, is that agencies and departments don’t have any input on how it goes into effect — the spending cuts are implemented across the board.”
Who might be affected?
“President Obama is painting a dire portrait of across-the-board doom and gloom from the automatic cuts, known as sequestration, set to begin Friday,” wrote The Washington Post’s Philip Rucker. “But the sequester is really like a tornado, scattershot in its course. It would strike some communities and largely bypass others, cutting across class, politics and geography.”
As Rucker reported, “the sequester would afflict big cities and military communities — because of cuts to social programs and defense — far more than middle-class suburbs or rural areas.”
If you want to see an estimate of a state-by-state impact of the sequestration scheduled to take effect March 1, click here.
So, how real are the estimates?
“The descriptions of the post-sequester landscape coming from the Obama administration have been alarming, specific — and, in at least some cases, hyped,” Karen Tumulty and Lyndsey Layton reported today in The Post.
“Despite the reams of fact sheets the White House has been putting out, no one really knows how bad things are likely to get — including Republicans who have criticized the president for exaggerating the effects,” according to Tumulty and Layton.
If you’re still trying to understand all this watch this easy-to-follow video from The Post’s Ed O’Keefe about the planned budget cuts.
Let’s Talk Love and Money
Join me today at noon ET for my live online discussion. I can talk sequestration but would rather hear about your love and money issues.
And, to help answer your questions, my guest is Deborah Price. Her book, “The Heart of Money,” is this month’s pick for the Color of Money Book Club.
If you can’t join me live, send your questions in early or read the archives later.
Yahoo to its home office employees: Get thee to work
There is a lot of buzz about Yahoo, and it’s not about the Web site.
People are taking sides over an order from the company’s new chief executive, Marissa Mayer, that Yahoo employees may no longer work from home.
In an internal memo leaked to Kara Swisher of All Things D, employees were told: “Speed and quality are often sacrificed when we work from home. We need to be one Yahoo!, and that starts with physically being together.”
“Painfully awkward as this is phrased, it means every Yahoo get to your desks stat,” wrote Swisher.
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