Sequestration is only the first step.

• Author: de Rugy, Veronique

WHEN IT comes to addressing our debt problems, there are no adults in the room. Democrats don't want spending cuts, but they want to raise income taxes on top earners. Republicans want to cut nondefense spending, but they want to increase defense spending while keeping taxes at current levels for at least one year. But with four years of trillion-dollar deficits, a debt-to-GDP ratio of 100 percent, and entitlement costs that will soon consume half the budget, not cutting spending is no longer an option.

That's why the sequestration cuts are only a start. Indeed, they aren't really "cuts" at all. According to the CBO, without sequestration, discretionary spending would grow from $1.05 trillion to $1.23 trillion between 2013 and 2021. With sequestration, it will instead grow from $1.05 to $1.15 trillion.

That means going through with sequestration is just the beginning. It won't make a dent in the size of our debt. More cuts will be needed in the near future.

Yet both sides oppose the sequestration they agreed upon. Republicans, in particular, insist that cutting military spending would kill 1 million jobs and shrink the economy significantly. We should take these claims with a grain of salt. Some jobs would be lost as a result of the cuts, but almost certainly not as many as the defense industry claims. What's more, some of these job losses will be offset by increased output in other sectors as resources shift. Either way, the Department of Defense isn't a jobs program and shouldn't be treated as one.

The Democrats' call for tax increases...