Sequester 2013: The Worst Western Since, Well, Ever
If there is one thing to be thankful about regarding this arbitrary quagmire, it’s that we won’t feel it right away. It’s meant to be gradual. Nevertheless, when testifying before the Senate Banking Committee, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said that the proposed policies will “slow the pace of real GDP growth by about 1-1/2 percentage points this year, relative to what it would have been otherwise,” and that a significant portion of that will derive from the cuts scheduled to begin March 1st. Bernanke added that “this additional near-term burden on the recovery is significant. Moreover, besides having adverse effects on jobs and incomes, a slower recovery would lead to less actual deficit reduction in the short run for any given set of fiscal actions.”
Perhaps the most disturbing part of the sequestration, though, is that it symbolizes a different kind of American progress; and not one that Eisenhower or any pre-Reagan and post-New Deal president ever foresaw. That “stupid” splinter group about whom Ike griped to his brother has steadily grown into a widely spread, well-funded and highly influential cabal that, thanks to its uncompromising “small government (for those who need help) is best government (for those who don’t)” dogma, seeks to dismantle the very programs that gave birth to the model middle class so admired by countries around the world. Despite having presented a platform and a poorly-whittled candidate that failed to resonate with nearly 66 million people at the polls, the GOP persists in dragging Americans back to the good ole days–no, not the ones defined by high employment, increased economic equality and labor receiving its fair share of income–but the ones marked by minimal regulations, high poverty and even more dramatic levels of economic inequality.
And if the sequestration is to serve as any sort of indicator of things to come, that is precisely where we’re headed. 2010 marked the United States’ return to wealth disparity gaps unseen since 1928, with the American South–the same states whose constituents continue to vote for Tea Party Republicans whose policies only aggravate economic inequality, mind you–taking the harshest blow. Food-stamp use reached a record high of 46.7 million people last June, and it should come as no surprise that the program is most highly sought in southern red states. Thus the shrill, conservative cant of tight wallets and tighter limits on federal programs is not only morally misguided, belied by historical data and economically irresponsible, it’s wholly hypocritical.
The numbers are certainly sobering, especially in light of the fact that we do have a deficit problem. But we also have more than one way of reducing it, and one that won’t come at the expense of those who already have little and yet stand to lose so much. Though it’s almost futile to discuss that avenue with today’s mutated crop of conservatism; after all, they deal in lead.
