Making sense of the US sequester – a roundup

An ongoing collection of commentary and analysis about the impending spending cuts known as the sequester. Contribute to this guide and tweet us your links using #smarttakesIn the lead up to the Friday deadline for the Obama administration to implement the automatic spending cuts known as the sequester, economists and pundits everywhere are weighing in. To help you make sense of the facts and figures and furloughs, we're gathering the most useful and insightful commentary we can find around the web. Our reporters will be contributing to this list on Twitter, and we invite you to do the same:Why we need the sequester - Washington PostWe are disputing the concept that the total failure of our politicians to even sit down and negotiate in hopes of averting what was once-considered a doomsday scenario is such a bad thing. In short: just because the sequester is a manufactured crisis doesn't mean it can't have the same effect as a non-manufactured crisis in waking up the body politic to the "have cake/eat it too" mentality that dominates not just Washington but the public at large – Chris Cillizza and Aaron Blake via @RuthSBudget impasse signals a shift in G.O.P.'s focus – New York Times With so many rank-and-file Republicans adamant that they would rather see the cuts stand than raise any taxes, Speaker John A Boehner finds himself in a bind. Three times this year – on the tax deal to resolve the fiscal cliff, on a measure to suspend the debt ceiling and on a package of Hu...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - Category: Science Tags: Comment United States US defence spending US Congress Barack Obama World news guardian.co.uk US politics Media US military US domestic policy Obama administration US economic growth and recession Comment is free Source Type: news