A crisis of Washington's making.

You would think the end is near, what with the gnashing of teeth and predictions of economic disaster from the White House - all over the prospect of an $85 billion cut in $3.5 trillion in federal spending. You might have missed the relatively modest magnitude of the cut with all the dire talk about sequestration that will take effect on March 1 unless Congress and the White House act to avoid it. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]