I must admit I don't understand all this. I don't think anybody really does except other politicians, and that may be the point to this whole story.

 

 

The Sequestration Fight Is Based on Lies and Stupidity

 

As a political writer, being outraged by certain issues and policies is like rocket fuel. I'm not an angry guy by nature, but there's a universe of things in politics that anger me and, combined with an almost involuntary drive to seek and disseminate the truth, I'm never really at a loss for topics to cover.

 

But the sequestration issue has been one of those rare items that frustrate me to the point of being incapable of spending time on it. When I read about sequestration, my brain seizes. The stupidity of it all simply confounds me to the point of being speechless. For me, this is a shocking and rare predicament.

 

It's not even the chronic brinksmanship -- the reoccurring doomsday countdowns and the Republican-manifested economic sabotage that's behind it all. It's not the Keynesian in me who opposes the very notion of deficit reduction during a sluggish recovery. Granted, these are both points of irritation, but the characteristic of the sequester that ought to force us all into complete apoplexy and subsequent outrage-induced catatonia is the epidemic of ignorance regarding the status of the federal budget deficit.

 

There are two sides to this deficit idiocy:

 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bob-cesca/the-sequestration-fight-i_b_2792041.html?utm_hp_ref=fb&src=sp&comm_ref=false

 

I have a very bad feeling about all this.

 

This doesn't surprise me.  In my experience, I have found most Americans are woefully ignorant about fiscal policy...really about any public policy, especially when it involves any sort of nuance.  It goes hand-in-hand with our media cramming every story into 15 second sound-bites, because they don't believe we have the attention span for a story to last any longer.  And I will not even get into the idiots masquerading as media...the ratings whores that spew whatever vitriol they think will get more people to watch them.

 

So we have politicians that take action based on polls that are measuring the thoughts of ignorant saps, regardless of any other consideration.  It is all about how it will be perceived by these voters. 

 

In this particular case, I would not advocate a sharp curtailing of federal spending while we are trying to keep the economy growing.  Unemployment is still high, and forced budget reductions will not help.  But I also do not subscribe to this latest manufactured "crisis" that the media keeps hyping.  We are not necessarily facing doom based on these budget decisions.  Unfortunately, a real aspect of the macro economy is consumer and investor confidence...something the media has a real impact upon. 

 

Idiots.