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WSJ Opinion Page Editor Dan Henninger on the government’s failure to approve a budget.
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-- says -- we've been sitting here for four straight years in the government the United States of America has failed to enact a budget and -- heading to run about it this morning.
-- editorial page of the Wall Street Journal and joins us now in the studio so it's like living in another world and our.
Alternative universe that's at the threat.
Sell now what.
Well now we go to to sequester in the meeting at the White House tomorrow between Obama -- the congressional leaders of course Obama has waiting till.
After the sequester takes effect to meet with them not before which is don't normally the way you do politics in Washington.
So I don't think anything's going to come of this -- you do believe though that.
Saying that the sequester is going to be indiscriminate across the board and it's gonna really damage the economy.
I think that's overstating the effect of what's going to happen.
The bureaucracies.
Than the president have entirely within their power to distribute that sequester.
In ways that will -- I think a minimal impact on the economy 85 billion dollars across the entire breadth of the federal government is not that much friend and that it is not necessary to.
The lawyer and for a low air traffic controllers there -- you don't think the managers of these departments are actually gonna take their own people and throw them out into the street they have many other ways they can accomplish these sequester.
This is all part of what you write about the Obama -- and universe -- which.
And this is a political tactic but president -- bomb -- Wants to raise revenue and in the he is his whole -- -- revolves around public spending in what you're saying today.
That's exactly right -- I mean -- Barack Obama and does not want to caught federal spending.
Because he believes that federal spending grows the economy this famous thing called the multiplier effect the keynesian multiplier.
If you spend -- dollar you get a dollar and a half for two dollars of growth if you spend a trillion dollars you should get upwards of two and a half trillion dollars of growth.
There has been.
Over the past four years Obama's budgets have spent over twelve trillion dollars.
We're going to have a growth rate this year of one point 4% barely grown in the fourth quarter there is no evidence whatsoever that all of this federal spending is producing.
Economic growth.
To give us a prediction and a wrap -- up how you think this will all and if we all agree that tomorrow's deadline is this pretty much.
You know forget about it that's the sequester goes into effect but then you'll get another deadline government -- -- -- the next conversely I don't think we're gonna get a government shut down -- -- say this.
Make this one point -- If that sequester takes effect I think the result will be positive in the sense it shows.
That the United States government unlike all of these other western governments -- can reduce its public spending.
And I think the effect will be distributed widely enough that it won't be deeply felt in the economy.
And will be a down payment on doing more the sorts of things professor -- suggested.
More serious reconstruction of the federal budget.
Dan reed dance column 'cause it's had his.
