David Rogers writes, “Washington is in a swivet these days over across-the-board cuts March 1 that threaten to wreak havoc with domestic agencies and military readiness. But the reality is that if every American were to get one penny less on each dollar of government benefits and pay one penny more on each dollar of taxes, the budget improvement would be almost the same.” … Indeed, based on new estimates this week, just a 1% increase in revenues and a 1% cut in spending would add up to more than $800 billion over 10 years – roughly the same as the almost $790 billion in appropriations cuts in the March sequester.” OLD BUDGET HANDS HATE SUCH SIMPLISTIC FORMULAS “But does one across-the-board approach deserve another? And could the March sequester be replaced by such an alternative that would spread the pain more broadly and reduce the disruptions?” Think about it…Lincoln is already the rage…why not at least explore putting his penny to work to reach a larger deal.
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Feb 2013