TIME: The Sequester Is a Republican-Inflicted Wound

[ProfessionalLeftist]

The sequester is here, with an initial $85 billion worth of haphazard and economically destructive spending cuts, a Washington wound almost universally described as “self-inflicted.” Let’s be clearer: It’s Republican-inflicted. It is a direct result of the insistence by GOP leaders in the summer of 2011 that they would not raise the federal debt ceiling unless President Obama agreed to dramatic spending cuts. One can argue that the growth of the debt or the size of the government justified that insistence; I’d disagree. But it’s simply a fact that every budget crisis of the last two years—the downgrade of the U.S. credit rating, the failure of the “supercommittee,” the fiscal cliff, and now this—stems from Republican debt-limit brinksmanship.

This is what makes all the Beltway back-and-forth that came up with the sequester, and who moved which goalposts, and what Gene Sperling said to Bob Woodward, so annoying. The origin of this mess is absolutely clear. It was created by the Budget Control Act of 2011, the ransom Republican leaders received for agreeing to let the U.S. government pay its bills.

Traditionally, the debt ceiling had been a symbolic cap, an opportunity for members of Congress in the minority party (including a certain Illinois Senator Barack Obama back in 2006) to grandstand about the fiscal irresponsibility of the majority party before the limit was increased. (In Obama’s semi-defense, the irresponsibility of tax-cutting, big-spending Republicans in the Bush era was truly breathtaking.) After their big congressional wins in the 2010 midterms, though, GOP leaders declared that the debt was out of control, so they would not raise the debt limit without an equivalent amount of spending cuts. They threatened to force the U.S. government into default—essentially, to crash the global economy—unless Obama accepted a massive rollback of the welfare state.

Read more: http://swampland.time.com/2013/03/04/the-sequester-is-a-republican-inflicted-wound/#ixzz2Mb2Wa94R

[ladjf]

1. That's good that the Repubilcans are being blamed for this in main stream media. nt

[Bandit]

2. I must admit surprise... TIME magazine is IMO a Right Wing Rag.

It has for the last several decades always slanted to the right....I understand though that they are beginning to flounder and because of Right Wing economics will probably be dead within a year, so I guess they can finally write the truth...

[Tempest]

4. Same here.

I thought they would have gotten rid of Grunwald a long time ago.

[pampango]

6. My opinion too. "Let’s be clearer: It’s Republican-inflicted." Never thought I would read that there

...the irresponsibility of tax-cutting, big-spending Republicans in the Bush era was truly breathtaking.

They threatened to force the U.S. government into default—essentially, to crash the global economy—unless Obama accepted a massive rollback of the welfare state.

Let’s pause for a moment to discuss that threat. Republican leaders like House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell didn’t really want the Treasury to default on its obligations; they just wanted to use the debt ceiling as a hostage to extract spending cuts as a ransom. But some new Tea Party congressmen genuinely welcomed a default, because, well, let’s be charitable and say they didn’t understand the catastrophic consequences.

I wonder if the significance of losing a 'right-wing rag' like Time magazine even dawns on the average Fox News-watching republican. OTOH, I'm sure Fox will just cite Time's opinion as another example of the 'liberal media'.

[HereSince1628]

3. The DC media market areas will be among the most hurt, surely this will be noticed there.

Maybe this time our inglorious representatives in DC will notice that their stupidity has consequences.

[sellitman]

5. If they fly they will

Already the airports are limiting the amount of lines in the security areas.

Glad I don't travel that way for a living anymore.

[Cha]

7. K&RRRRR thanks Pro