Paul Ryan
says it’s going to happen, the sequestration, that is. One can
hardly imagine any alternative scenario, in which Democrats and
Republicans work it all out, and come out singing
Kumbaya with a deal to
avert the workings of the automatic cuts, share and share alike, to
domestic and defense discretionary spending.
Certainly, it would be better a) to prioritize cuts, and b) to
reform entitlements such as Medicare and Social Security over a
longer time line. The former is just common sense. The latter would
reduce any short-term hit on the economy while improving the
long-run balance sheet of the nation and head off cascading and
uncontrolled spending and inevitable tax increases caused by
changing demographics, i.e., low birth rates and an ageing
population, and the fact that the entitlements are on auto-pilot
and not subject to negotiations or restraint in the normal
budgetary process in Congress.
But no Democrat is willing to jump on entitlements. No
Republican wants to jump, say, on farm subsidies or defense
spending. Let the grandchildren be damned.
Read more:
http://spectator.org/archives/2013/01/29/learning-to-love-sequestration
