Early last June, I was having coffee with a longtime friend, a former Republican member of Congress widely considered one of the most astute watchers of Washington and the political process. This friend said he thought that budget sequestration was very likely to happen, that it was almost inevitable given the players and dynamics that were in place. Keep in mind that this was long before the outcome of the November 2012 election was known.

My friend wasn’t arguing that he was in favor of sequestration. In fact, he stated matter-of-factly that he didn’t want to see it happen. He speculated that it would bring pain and hardship and quite possibly tip us into a recession, albeit probably a brief one. He finished his point by making the case that as much as he would hate to see it happen, that once it did happen, once the economy emerged out of the other side of the horrible and mindless process, that the nation’s budget numbers would look much better. He predicted that in the long haul, even factoring in the pain, we might be better off than if it had not occurred. Continue reading “Analysis: Sequestration May Be a Bad Idea Whose Time Has Come”