As I write this on Tuesday, the Dow-Jones Index has hit an all-time high. It’s historic! Higher than the last record, set in 2007.
Sequestration, which I call Austerity, took effect on Friday.
Devastating economic pain is predicted throughout America, although some exaggeration is baked into the “sky-is-falling” rhetoric.
Exaggeration or no exaggeration, economic growth has been sluggish. Sequestration of $85 billion in federal spending will slow the economy even more. Continue reading
“Sequestration” went into effect in America this week, reducing U.S. government spending by $85 billion.
What does it mean? It means that the United States has accepted “Austerity.”
It’s not the end of the world. The vast majority of U.S. government spending will continue as usual. The government will not grind to a halt, at least not because of sequestration. It’s still possible that Congress could force a shut-down of government sometime in the future, but not likely this year.
Most interestingly, Austerity was NOT imposed by the normal processes of legislative or executive action. Continue reading
“The U.S no longer has a well-functioning self-government. . . . American democracy has been hacked. The United States Congress, the avatar of the democratically elected national legislatures in the modern world, is now incapable of passing laws without permission from the corporate lobbies and other special interests that control their campaign finances.”
The above quote is from Al Gore’s new book, “The Future.” It makes sobering reading as the U.S. ship of state drifts, apparently rudderless, toward “sequestration.” Is the bridge abandoned? Have the helm and the engine room broken down?
I don’t understand the panic over sequestration, but I am concerned about the ability of U.S. government institutions to function. Continue reading
