The idiocy of the sequester

Breaking Down the Budget Mess

By STEVEN RATTNER, NYT

To hear Republicans spin it, the sequester is no big deal — a seemingly tiny 2.3 percent reduction in federal spending. Jack Welch, the former head of General Electric, argues that any C.E.O. who can’t cut 2.3 percent from his company’s expenses should be fired.

But the budget mess is far more complicated than that pat contention implies. For one thing, these new spending cuts would come on top of $1.7 trillion of spending reductions already set to take effect over a decade.

For another, the spending reductions mandated by the sequester legislation are confined to a group of programs representing less than half of the budget, as shown in chart 1.

Even within this select group, all programs are not alike. Medicare is slated to be trimmed by only 2 percent, while a 7.9 percent reduction will be imposed on the military. Nondefense discretionary spending – everything from education aid to research grants – will be reduced by 5.3 percent.

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