Nobody wants it, but sequestration -- the imposition of sharp and blunt federal spending cuts -- is coming on Friday. Nobody wants it, but nobody wants to negotiate a resolution to it.

President Obama wants some tax increases to offset some inevitable spending cuts. The Republicans won't discuss it.

The President on Monday urged the nation's governors to press Washington lawmakers into action to avert the looming sequester. "All of us are concerned about our politics, both in our own party's as well as the other party's. But at some point we've got to do some governing,"  he said.

But House Speaker John Boehner scoffed Monday at the tax idea. "The president says we have to have another tax increase to avoid the sequester," Boehner said. "Well, Mr. President, you got your tax increase. It's time to cut spending."

Boehner and others accused Obama of running a political campaign and trying to scare Americans rather than doing any serious talking about sequestration.
It's not clear how soon the cuts will be apparent after Friday when sequestration is supposed to kick in. Investors, however, didn't much like the uncertainty. The Dow Jones industrials ($INDU) fell 216 points to 13,784, the worst loss for the blue-chip index since November.

The sell-off was exacerbated by worries that Italy was heading to political deadlock and could disrupt markets in Europe.

The sequester involves about $85 billion in cuts, roughly split between military and nonmilitary domestic programs. It was imposed in the 2011 deal that ended the debt-ceiling crisis. The cuts were meant as a scare tactic, not as a real-world policy, the Washington Post noted on Monday.  The cuts conceptually were so deep and so painful, it was believed, that the two parties would be forced to replace them with something else.

But the Tea Party wing of the Republican Party is the controlling element, and they want spending cuts more than they care about anything else.

But after Boehner reportedly said over the weekend that the president had "b---s made out of marshmallows," the White House might not be too excited to negotiate with him.

The real bite will come on or about March 27 when Congress is supposed to pass a continuing resolution to keep the government running.

There are clear indications of who would be affected: Everyone. Federal employees face furloughs and salary cuts. Federal hiring has been frozen. The Transportation Department is warning that flights could be delayed or cancelled as air controllers are furloughed.

Airport security lines will be longer, Homeland Security Secret Janet Napolitano said Monday.

Most affected all will states and communities with big defense presences, including Texas, California, Florida, Virginia, Washington State and Hawaii.

In addition, medical research would be disrupted as would Medicare and other popular programs.

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