Article: The Lesson of Sequestration

"The Lesson of Sequestration

Before the March 1 seques­tra­tion dead­line, Amer­i­cans heard in the media that some would lose their jobs or receive a pay cut if Con­gress didn't act to pre­vent auto­mat­ic, across-the-board spend­ing cuts. How­ev­er, if the first few weeks of seques­tra­tion are any indi­ca­tion, it has actu­al­ly helped our econ­o­my, and it could be prov­ing what budget-conscious pun­dits have been say­ing for years: we can't spend money we don't have. 

As seques­tra­tion approached, fear mon­ger­ing abound­ed. Breath­less media report­ing, fueled by pres­i­den­tial hyper­bole, made it sound like the 5 per­cent cut in non-defense dis­cre­tionary spend­ing would bring about the down­fall of the repub­lic. Edu­ca­tion Sec­re­tary Arne Dun­can said, "There are lit­er­al­ly teach­ers now who are get­ting pink slips," because of seques­tra­tion. Pres­i­dent Obama said it too; Capi­tol Hill jan­i­tors "just got a pay cut."

Fact check­ers have found these state­ments to be false. ..."

http://www.realclearpolicy.com/articles/2013/03/27/the_lesson_of_sequestration_468.html

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