Calling the Bluff on Sequester Hype

Calling the Bluff on Sequester Hype
February 25, 2013 | BA_Admin

Washington has been in full panic mode over the looming budget sequester, especially at the White House. We have been told the automatic cuts (which amount to a mere 3 percent of total spending) would be “drastic,” ”draconian,” and threaten to “eviscerate job-creating investments in education and energy and medical research.”



If the hype matches reality, why is the White House going ahead with a 100-city tour promoting federal grant spending? Shouldn’t the sequester have annihilated all hope of any federal aid for years to come?



The fact is that the sequester will barely scratch the paint on the thundering locomotive that is federal spending, and the White House knows it. Some of the ‘vital’ government programs that we’ve been told are under threat don’t even exist. Washington would love to paint cutting three cents out of each dollar the spend as the next Mayan doomsday prophecy, but behind the rhetoric, beltway politicians know it’s business as usual.



It’s time to call Washington’s bluff. The sequester is far from ideal—but if our leaders refuse to get serious enough to give the budget a 3 percent haircut, it may very well be the best worst option for our nation’s long-term fiscal health.