re: #190 chadu

Jon Stewart made the point: the Sequester gives Repubs everything they always wanted — gov’t cuts.

It’s something I’ve been pointing out for a while. The GOP had no reason to negotiate in good faith. They get the cuts they’ve always sought, and they’ve sought to blame Obama for anything bad that happens as a result of the cuts. For them, it’s a win win.

Thing is that cuts are necessary across a wide range of government agencies, but this is blunt force trauma to every single program, regardless of its importance and value. A CDC program that identifies emerging diseases and issues alerts for a new epidemic is cut just as surely as a road to nowhere project in the hinterlands. A weather satellite program is cut just as much as a defense contract for a tank upgrade that the Army doesn’t need or want.

The GOP is okay with all this, since it establishes the next baseline for which to submit still more cuts - this time on the “entitlement” portion of the budget as the GOP proposals have thus far indicated no intention of balancing cuts with closing loopholes or revenue adjustments - all while protecting the defense budget (and jobs that the defense budget creates*).

*The GOP tacitly admits that defense spending creates jobs and those must be protected, but government spending elsewhere is a waste despite the jobs and value added from working in maintaining and improving infrastructure, education, environmental protection, public health, etc.