With less than two weeks to go until the March 1 deadline for automatic budget cuts, the administration is issuing dire warnings about how crucial government services are about to wither. Many of the warnings may come true.
Tonight's presidential debate is ostensibly about foreign policy, but budget politics will underlie everything the two candidates say. That's because America's foreign policy is scripted by two factors: its pocketbook and its willingness to write checks for overseas military engagements.
When gas prices hit $4 at the pump earlier this summer, a lot of motorists were crying Uncle!" They'd be crying all the louder if they realized those first four bucks didn't cover half of it. It's just that the remainder is hidden in your tax bill.
Getting even a tentative handle on the multi-trillion dollar federal budget is no easy matter. Still, as the debate surrounding U.S. spending, taxes and the looming debt ceiling continues, it's worth asking: Exactly how does America spend all that cash, and what do the choices being debated really mean?
