“Supercommittee” Cuts Must Happen

Media reports have been regularly lamenting the debacle that is the Congressional “Supercommittee.” This was supposed to be okay as Congress would then be “forced” to cut $1.1 trillion over the next ten years through a process known as “sequester.” Of course, these are not real cuts, but are instead cuts relative to the baseline budget as you can see from the chart below:

But, members on both sides of the aisle are now saying the “cuts” may not even happen. The main concern is defense spending, but the reality is that when the rubber hits the road, neither party in Washington really wants to cut spending if it means cutting their pet programs. So, America will slide further towards Greece and Republicans will be giving Obama a free ticket to a second term by showing themselves to not be serious about spending (but we’ve said this all before)….

And, yes, contrary to the views of many, America can stand to cut defense spending: