Brace yourself, sequester is coming! The news has been filled with horror stories over the pain threatened by the sequester cuts. ... these stories have one thing in common: A lot of emphasis on how modest federal budget cuts will impose outlandish costs, and absolutely no mention that plausible alternatives–increasing taxes, increasing the national debt ever higher–would also impose real economic burdens.
The one alternative to the sequester that does merit brief mention, that Congress actually passes a bill that selectively cuts spending, is widely agreed to be implausible.
Now I’m sure that some reporters are out there doing their job, not just reporting the obvious fact that recipients of federal dollars would rather just keep the money flowing, but also reporting that federal spending itself comes at a cost. But such news reports are rarer than rainbow-colored unicorns these days.
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