Not surprisingly the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction or “Super Committee” was unable to reach any agreement about how to “cut” about $1.3 trillion from the federal deficit over the next 10 years. These “cuts” were required by the passing of the Budget Control Act of 2011 on August 2, 2011. The bill was the result of a compromise reached due to the logjam created in Congress regarding raising the debt limit ceiling. If Congress fails to produce a deficit reduction bill with at least $1.2 trillion in cuts, then Congress can grant a further $1.2 trillion increase in the debt ceiling but this would trigger across-the-board cuts called sequestration. These cuts would be equally split between security and non-security programs. The across-the-board cuts would apply to mandatory and discretionary spending in the years 2013 to 2021 and be equal to the difference between $1.2 trillion and the amount of deficit reduction enacted by the super committee.

It is important to note that the act will not actually reduce the overall U.S. debt over the 10-year period it is specified for, only slow down the existing rate of growth of the debt. This is due to the fact that the cuts will not reduce federal spending in absolute terms, but rather reduce the year-to-year increases in spending from what had previously been anticipated. To put it more clearly, the “cuts” are merely a slowing down of the increase, rather than a decrease from current, actual, base-line spending. Personally, I find this fact appalling. If someone has a shortfall in their household budget they don’t decide to just reduce their desired increase in categorical spending. That will do nothing but slow down the increased rate that they are sustaining debt or deficits. They will still be getting deeper and deeper into financial trouble; they just won’t be doing it at an ever faster rate than before. Only