The Sequester Parable

Bookworm Room » How the sequester works — an easy to understand analogy: "One day, Dad comes home and says, “Mom, the boss told me that, because of the recession, instead of getting my 4% annual raise, I’ll only get a 3% annual raise.  We’ll still be bringing in more money than last year, but not quite as much more as we had expected.  We may have to retrench a little.”

Mom is livid. “How dare your boss do that! You’ve been a great employee. Well, if we have to retrench, I’ll show him! And I’ll make you suffer too for working for such a cheapskate.”

Here’s what Mom does not do: Mom does not pay her mortgage or credit bills on time; she does not pay attention to turning out the lights; she does not make sure to buy food she wants and then use that food; she does not curb her occasional impulse clothes spending; and she makes no effort to pay attention to parking meters.

Here’s what Mom does: she tells the kids they’re never going to Disneyland again; she starts serving only Mac ‘n Cheese from a box; she only buys the family clothes from goodwill; and she constantly tells them that it’s not her fault that their lives have become so miserable. She’s just responding to Dad and his mean boss."

Heh. Captures it almost perfectly.