I like sequestration. Automatic budget cuts might not be the best way of reducing the burden of government spending, but a sequester is better than leaving the federal budget on autopilot.
Particularly since the “cuts” are mostly just reductions in already-scheduled increases.
The only exception, at least in the short run, is the defense budget. I point out in this Cato Institute video that the defense budget absorbs 50 percent of the sequester even though the Pentagon accounts for only about 25 percent of federal outlays.
But even with a sequester, the defense budget ten years from now will be $100 billion higher than it is today.
And since the United States accounts from more than 45 percent of global military spending (and our allies represent another 24 percent of total defense outlays), two of my Cato colleagues explain in the video that it is silly to think that a sequester will leave America helpless.
Many Republicans want to cancel the sequester in order to protect the defense budget, and some of them are even willing to surrender to Obama’s demands and implement a tax increase to make that happen.
Before doing something that is both economically and politically misguided, they should take a few minutes and read George Will’s sober analysis.
While they’re at it, that may want to also peruse some writings by Mark Steyn and Steve Chapman. A defense sequester might be an especially good result if it leads to some long-overdue thinking about misguided overseas commitments.
