“This is a uniquely bad time for austerity.” Which of course makes it that much more likely. Thanks, stupid and craven leaders!
But aren’t we facing a fiscal crisis? No, not at all. The federal government can borrow more cheaply than at almost any point in history, and medium-term forecasts, like the 10-year projections released Tuesday by the Congressional Budget Office, are distinctly not alarming. Yes, there’s a long-term fiscal problem, but it’s not urgent that we resolve that long-term problem right now. The alleged fiscal crisis exists only in the minds of Beltway insiders.
Still, even if we should put off spending cuts for now, wouldn’t it be a good thing if our politicians could simultaneously agree on a long-term fiscal plan? Indeed, it would. It would also be a good thing if we had peace on earth and universal marital fidelity. In the real world, Republican senators are saying that the situation is desperate — but not desperate enough to justify even a penny in additional taxes. Do these sound like men ready and willing to reach a grand fiscal bargain?
Realistically, we’re not going to resolve our long-run fiscal issues any time soon, which is O.K. — not ideal, but nothing terrible will happen if we don’t fix everything this year. Meanwhile, we face the imminent threat of severe economic damage from short-term spending cuts.
So we should avoid that damage by kicking the can down the road. It’s the responsible thing to do.
Sequester = Austerity. $1.2 trillion dollars over 10 years = $120 billion dollars cut each year. The political class, which includes most Democrats, all Republican and the President, have talked about a combination of increasing revenues (more jobs and higher taxes) and lower spending (cutting Soc. Sec., Medicare, etc.) to reduce the deficit by $4 trillion dollars over 10 years = $400 billion dollars each year. $120 billion by sequester or $400 billion by combo. Can anyone make any sense out of this math and NOT come up with an austerity program? The solution is wealth equalization. But that will take a whole bunch of Socialists in the Congress and one in the WH. Or getting rid of every Republican holding any public office anywhere.