Sequestration, Disability, Medicare, Education, Navy, & Sino-Japanese Relations
Been a while since I have posted. Busy with school. Been taking the bus a lot since my GF has the car most of the time. She has to take her son to school and all kinds of practices, basket bally, chorus, and both her kids to church and stuff. I figure since we live in different towns and my school is a short bus ride away, let her use the car except when I have to have it for expeditions. Most things I can walk to or bus to. See how nice I am…. I need the exercise. Got to tone up this body and I spend way too much time studying.
Seems the sequester is in effect. I wonder if it will affect my medical coverage or education? According to this site below, special education for the disabled will take a big hit. Medicare takes a 2% cut, disability payments will not be affected, but social security offices will be cut back meaning those who are on waiting lists might have to wait longer. Vocational rehabilitation is taking a cut, that means my aid from State Dept. of Rehabilitation might be cut or eliminated. They pay for my books and bus fare. Low income housing is taking a big cut, so a lot of people might end up homeless, I am not one of those, I pay full rent, and starve because of it.
http://socialsecuritydisabilityguidelines.lifesparknetwork.com/2013/03/02/social-security-disability-guidelines-how-will-the-sequestration-affect-the-disabled-and-those-seeking-disability-benefits/
http://www.disability-links.com/
This is a link to a pdf of a statement by Dept of Education on effects of sequestration.
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=10&ved=0CGoQFjAJ&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.appropriations.senate.gov%2Fht-labor.cfm%3Fmethod%3Dhearings.download%26id%3De42da252-5213-4fa4-b3f9-550c42b98961&ei=wpQyUer1GezxiQKSlIHgDg&usg=AFQjCNEx-xqT6vX-FG8hZKrb1E15KwO9Ng&bvm=bv.43148975,d.cGE
This is a link to an article about the effects of sequestration on education state by state.
http://diverseeducation.com/article/51602/#
Luckily defense takes the biggest hit at 13%, but those poor defense contractors will be hurting. Southern California has tons of them. It seems much of our high tech sector is in defense. Places like San Diego, California, Groton, Connecticut, Newport News, Virginia and Pascagoula, Mississippi with their contracts with the Navy, might be impacted.
http://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/blog/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?ID=1071
Interesting policy decision keeping the USS Truman in port instead of sending it to the Persian Gulf, perhaps indicates that the USA is not going to take as hard a line against Iran as some of the verbiage would have us believe.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323293704578334632041015200.html
Link to PDF on naval ship building.
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/weapons/RL32665.pdf
Another interesting aspect of the international ramifications is the hostility between China and Japan that has been building up over a small group of islands. The sequester, cutting back on the US Naval budget will impact the USA’s ability to live up to its treaty commitments to Japan. This may lead to the Japanese building its first nuclear weapons, or deciding to forgo its non aggression foreign policy. It may have been planning to use the buying of the Senkaku Islands as a way of doing an end run around their own constitutional requirements for non involvement in foreign military commitments. The Chinese seem to be taking this pretty seriously.
http://www.economist.com/news/asia/21569757-armed-clashes-over-trivial-specks-east-china-sea-loom-closer-drums-war
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/aug/2/japan-revisits-nuclear-weapons-ban/?page=all
Tags: China-Japan Relations, Education, Medicare, Navy, Sequestration & Disability