The Sequester Arrives | National Catholic Reporter

The Sequester Arrives | National Catholic Reporter by MSW.  MGB: $85 billion in cuts in the size budget we are dealing with means little (unless you are unemployed with benefits about to run out and facing the prospect of federal furloughs).  For me this is personal.  They need to kick this grand compromise down the road until they know whether the uninsured will buy policies on the exchange or wait until they get sick to get coverage.  This decision will be made by the market for health insurance stocks.  If investors are jittery, there will be plenty of time for leadership and compromise.  The only question then is single-payer or subsidized public option - both of which will involve higher taxes per employee (either payroll or consumption).  The best they can do now is pass a biennial deal allowing discretion in the sequester by department secretaries (in other words, rescission authority) and some goal for tax reform (although I would rather they wait on that too - I'd rather use rich home mortgage deduction savings to beef up a child tax credit to $500 a month (federal).  Regardless, they should push budgetary issues to the end of 2014 when we have an election and can get rid of more Tea Party members (either because their base vote dies off or because some are running for Senate - also a fools errand).