PRESIDENTIAL PARADIGMS
The Lesson of Chicken Little
Ch l Wilfong, P id t West Virginia Farm Bureau
Charles Wilf
President, W t Vi i i F
B
The sky will not fall as
a result of the so-called
sequester, which took effect
on March 1. We have been
told by the President and
his administration for weeks
that planes won’t fly, trains
won’t run, kids will cease to
be educated, meat won’t be
properly inspected and so forth, because thousands
of air traffic controllers, teachers, meat inspectors
and others will be fired as a result of the sequester.
It simply isn’t true. The sequester is actually
not a cut at all. It is merely a 2% decrease in
the rate of growth of government spending. For
example, if a government agency received $100
last year, under the pre-sequestration system,
they would automatically receive $108 this year.
Sequestration simply cuts that amount to $106.
That agency would still receive 6% more money
than the previous year. How does that lead to
massive lay-offs?
If there is any disruption from the sequester,
it will occur because the President, through his
discretionary authority, can make examples of
individual government functions. But his claims
that even janitors and security guards at the
Capitol will receive pay cuts are just not true.
The President himself suggested the
sequestration in late 2011, as part of a deal with
Congress to raise the debt limit. To his surprise,
Congress enacted the sequester legislation, and
he signed it into law. Now, he blames others as
though he had nothing to do with it.
I applaud Congress for at least taking this small
step in the right direction and slowing government
spending. However, much more needs to be done
to return us to some sense of fiscal sanity. I hope
Congress will have the courage to continue on
this course. We cannot have government that
continues to mortgage our children’s’ future. The
sequester was meant to force action, and it has.
Planting the Seeds for Ag’s Future
g
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B b Stallman, P id
Bob S ll
President, A
American F
i
Farm B
Bureau F d
Federation
i
Spring is in the air. When
I think of springtime, my
mind immediately conjures
up such words as “renewal,”
“optimism,” “new day”…
Coincidentally, these same
words come to mind when
I think about the younger
generation of farming.
Whenever critics have expressed their doubts
about the future of agriculture, I’ve paid them no
attention. Traveling around the countryside I’ve seen
our current crop of young farmers and ranchers who
are excited, energized and optimistic about their
industry. I can tell you personally that agriculture’s
future is in good hands.
4 West Virginia Farm Bureau News
So, when it comes to farming, spring is definitely
in the air.
Nature’s First Green
Just last month