Over at Downsizing the Federal Government, we focused on the following issues this week:

• If there’s this much resistance to a budget haircut, how can we hope to agree on surgery that would actually reduce spending, balance the budget, and avert national bankruptcy?
• Policymakers looking for spending cuts are finally turning an eye toward farm subsidies.
• Despite the budget cuts agreed to this week, total federal outlays will still rise by approximately $177 billion.
• President Obama wants to get reelected, and he will need a strong economy to succeed. Penalizing millionaires won’t help, but partnering with Republicans on corporate tax reforms and spending cuts would boost the economy and his job prospects.
• Spending increased an average $170 billion a year over the last decade. Thus, the $40 billion cut reverses out no more than one‐​quarter of one year’s worth of the last decade of increases.
• A new Cato video does an excellent job of visualizing the minuscule spending cuts Republicans and Democrats agreed to this week.

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