So I guess it was only a matter of time before we got some cartoons about sequestration.
But I don’t like most of them because they imply sequestration is a bad thing.
But this Lisa Benson cartoon is worth sharing if for no other reason that it calls attention to the fact that people are myopically fixating on a very small sequester while ignoring a giant long-run entitlement problem.
The good news, for what it’s worth, is that the House of Representatives voted for good entitlement reform in 2011 and 2012. So it’s theoretically possible that we may deal with that meteor before it causes a Greek-style meltdown at some point in the future.
I also like this next cartoon, produced by Jerry Holbert, because it shows Uncle Sam as a big fat slob.
The problem, of course, is that the sequester is too small. But at least this cartoon suggests that the problem is too much government spending and that Uncle Sam needs to lose some weight.
Notwithstanding hysterical rhetoric from the White House, the bureaucracies, and the various pro-spending lobbies in Washington, the sequester does not mean “vicious” or “draconian” spending cuts.
But the sequester is certainly better than doing nothing.
My concern, though, is that feckless and incompetent Republicans will fumble away victory. I explain in this Larry Kudlow interview that “doing nothing” is the right approach since the sequester happens automatically, but I’m worried that this very modest step in the right direction will be eroded as part of subsequent spending bills.
On a related note, Byron York of the Washington Examiner is rather perplexed by the GOP’s sequester strategy, which is based on the inconsistent message that it should happen, but that it’s bad.
Boehner calls the cuts “deep,” when most conservatives emphasize that for the next year they amount to about $85 billion out of a $3,600 billion budget. Which leads to another question: Why would Boehner adopt the Democratic description of the cuts as “deep” when they would touch such a relatively small part of federal spending? The effect of Boehner’s argument is to make Obama seem reasonable in comparison. After all, the president certainly agrees with Boehner that the sequester cuts threaten national security and jobs. The difference is that Obama wants to avoid them. At the same time, Boehner is contributing to Republican confusion on the question of whether the cuts are in fact “deep” or whether they are relatively minor. Could the GOP message on the sequester be any more self-defeating?
I’m not naive enough to think that GOPers actually care about my demands, but I certainly think the sequester is a “gut-check” moment for Republicans.
If they capitulate to Obama in the short run, or if they wipe out the sequester savings as part of subsequent spending bills, that will be a very dismal sign that the folks who came to DC thinking it was a cesspool have instead decided that it’s really a hot tub.