A flurry of speculation in recent days that the dreaded doomsday cuts that would hit the Pentagon if the so-called super committee fails to come up with $1.2 trillion in savings are unlikely to happen. Says Saturday’s New York Times, echoing similar reports in Politico and the Washington Post:
Several members of Congress, especially Republicans on the House and Senate Armed Services Committees, are readying legislation that would undo the automatic across-the-board cuts totaling nearly $500 billion for military programs, or exchange them for cuts in other areas of the federal budget.
This reminds me of the family I knew growing up: they always had the snazziest, hottest, newest automobile in their garage, even as their house was falling down, the kids went to school in tattered clothes, and probably went to bed hungry some nights. But boy, did they look good behind the wheel. We pay our elected representatives to do what is right, and for the past generation they’ve played us like marks in their games of three-card Monte. If they keep it up, the nation could soon find itself up on cinder blocks.