A Smart Way to End the Stupidity of Sequestration
By Ezra Klein - Mar 5, 2013, Bloomberg
There are two main problems with sequestration. The first is that the $1.1 trillion in budget cuts happen in an idiotic, across-the-board fashion. Think farm subsidies are less valuable than medical research, and thus should take a bigger cut? Too bad. Sequestration is too dumb to tell the difference.
The second is that sequestration slams the economy while it’s weak. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. estimates that it will cut economic growth by 0.6 percentage point in 2013. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that it will push unemployment back above 8 percent and may do sufficient damage to drive the U.S. economy into a small recession. In a barely recovering economy, it’s beyond stupid to choose to inflict that kind of injury on ourselves.
The good news? Both problems can be fixed, and in a way -- listen up, Republicans! -- that doesn’t increase taxes. In fact, they can be fixed -- listen up, Democrats! -- in a way that’s arguably preferable to raising taxes.
Republicans took a first step toward a solution last week, when Senators Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania proposed a bill giving President Barack Obama authority to implement sequestration with a scalpel rather than a meat cleaver.
(More here.)
There are two main problems with sequestration. The first is that the $1.1 trillion in budget cuts happen in an idiotic, across-the-board fashion. Think farm subsidies are less valuable than medical research, and thus should take a bigger cut? Too bad. Sequestration is too dumb to tell the difference.
The second is that sequestration slams the economy while it’s weak. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. estimates that it will cut economic growth by 0.6 percentage point in 2013. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that it will push unemployment back above 8 percent and may do sufficient damage to drive the U.S. economy into a small recession. In a barely recovering economy, it’s beyond stupid to choose to inflict that kind of injury on ourselves.
The good news? Both problems can be fixed, and in a way -- listen up, Republicans! -- that doesn’t increase taxes. In fact, they can be fixed -- listen up, Democrats! -- in a way that’s arguably preferable to raising taxes.
Republicans took a first step toward a solution last week, when Senators Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania proposed a bill giving President Barack Obama authority to implement sequestration with a scalpel rather than a meat cleaver.
(More here.)
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