Here’s how to participate:

1. Check out the resources in the sidebar at right to learn more about the historical context and current events related to this issue.
2. In the comments below, share your thoughts and explore what others are saying. (Please keep your comments respectful and on topic.)
3. Check back each week for the latest discussion topic.
4. In early September, cast your vote in a referendum on potential amendments, gathered from participant comments.

Discussion is moderated by Chris Phillips, research fellow of the Center for Programs in Contemporary Writing at the University of Pennsylvania and executive director of the nonprofit organization Democracy Café.

Now, it’s your turn to weigh in: Do we need to add an amendment requiring a balanced federal budget each year? Why or why not?

(Note to readers on Yahoo! News: If you want to take part in the debate, use this link and comment at the end of the story: http://blog.constitutioncenter.org/?p=25827.)

On May 6, 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed an executive order that created the WPA, a federal assistance program aimed at putting Americans back to work at a time when unemployment was near 20 percent. At its peak, it employed 3.3. million Americans.

The WPA’s legacy is everywhere—its workers built or worked on hundreds of thousands of infrastructure projects, from roads and bridges to schools, parks, and hospitals.

The WPA also employed artists to create thousands of posters that promoted social ideals of the time as well as federal programs supporting education, culture, health, safety, and tourism.

As described by Posters for the People, a traveling exhibition about WPA posters, “Through their distinct imagery and clear and simple messages, the posters of the WPA provide a unique snapshot of an important era in America’s past.”

Today, many of those now-iconic posters are online, thanks to the Library of Congress and projects like Posters for the People.

Online today, the messages that tend to resonate are those about travel and reading. Here’s a sampling of 10 of the most popular, pinnable posters.

1. See America—Montana

2. A trip around the world

3. Understanding the arts

4. John is not really dull

5. See America—caverns

6. Be kind to books

7. Spare our trees

8. Read books in March

9. Wild life

10. Once upon a time

All images courtesy Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. Source links: See America—Montana; A trip around the world; Understanding the arts; John is not really dull; See America—caverns; Be kind to books; Spare our trees; Read books in March; Wild life; Once upon a time.

Recent Constitution Daily Stories
Japan’s constitutional changes could echo through Asia
10 WPA posters that are Pinterest-worthy 80 years later
The day the Supreme Court killed Hollywood’s studio system
Law Day 2013: 10 famous people who were lawyers

Despite being 14 years old—ancient by Hollywood standards—the show manages to offer political commentary that is timeless, and in some cases, eerily prescient. Today, we’ll look at the top timely political predictions, including a few where life imitates art.

1. The Buffet Rule

The West Wing, 2003: Will Bailey (Joshua Malina) explains to his interns a proposed tax on millionaires (Red Haven’s on Fire,” Season 4, Episode 17).

Today: Warren Buffet and the Obama administration have fought for a plan to require a higher share of taxes for households making more than $1 million a year. Macon Phillips, White House new media director, even credited the Will Bailey scene as an inspiration for his explanation of the plan.

2. DOMA

The West Wing, 2004: Toby Ziegler (Richard Schiff) clashes with a conservative Supreme Court nominee about the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act. The twist: they just might agree (“The Supremes,” Season 5, Episode 17).

(Note: Start at 1:49 below for the relevant scene.)

Today: The (real) Supreme Court is considering a case, Windsor v. United States, about whether DOMA violates the equal protection of laws as guaranteed by the Fifth Amendment.

3. The debt ceiling

The West Wing, 2005: With a close presidential election in full swing, the sitting president, Jed Bartlet (Martin Sheen), must wrestle with Congress to raise the debt ceiling (“In God We Trust,” Season 6, Episode 20).

Today: In this case, it may be less of a prediction and more of a commentary on the fact that political history repeats itself. Like many years past, in late 2012, just after the election, Congress and President Obama faced another last-minute debt ceiling clash–which compounded into the so-called fiscal cliff, and was followed just a few months later by the sequester. So many crises, so little time.

4. The 2008 election

The West Wing, 2004 – 2006: Matt Santos (Jimmy Smits), a young, good-looking, idealistic congressman from Texas, rises to secure the Democratic nomination (Seasons 6 & 7).

Today (well, 2008): Barack Obama, an idealistic rising star like Santos, won the nomination and made history with his win in the 2008 election. Turns out, the similarities are no coincidence—a writer for the show, Eli Attie, revealed that the Santos character was indeed shaped by Obama, and that he even talked with David Axelrod, who at the time was working on Obama’s campaign for Senate, to learn more about Obama.

5. Privacy rights

The West Wing, 1999: When President Bartlet and Sam Seaborn (Rob Lowe) confront a candidate for the Supreme Court about his views on a constitutional right to privacy (or lack thereof), Sam pontificates about privacy becoming the constitutional issue of the next few decades (“The Short List,” Season 1, Episode 9).

Today: Privacy certainly permeates numerous constitutional debates. Just last week, the House passed a bill called CISPA, the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, which died in the Senate last year–as did a related bill, SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act)–but has quietly re-emerged. The bill has raised questions about the Fourth Amendment and online privacy. Another recent major debate involving privacy is the use of drones, GPS devices, and other technology for surveillance.

Recent Constitution Daily Stories

TV news anchors, cursing and the First Amendment

Discover 10 treasures from the Library of Congress

The two men who helped create the world’s greatest library

James Buchanan: Why is he considered America’s worst president?

President Barack Obama is expected to sign the law immediately, which had already been approved by the Senate. The resolution averts a government shutdown expected on March 27.

The price will be $85 billion in budget cuts at government agencies for the next six months. The sequestering of these funds became a reality on March 1, when Democrats and Republicans couldn’t agree on a compromise for the second half of the fiscal year, which started on October 1, 2012. The continuing resolution was a final chance to avert the sequester.

The continuing resolution will allow the defense department and some government agencies to cut specific programs and expenses, instead of using across-the-board cuts by a fixed percentage.

The bill includes detailed spending plans for the departments of Agriculture, Defense, Commerce, Homeland Security, Justice and Veterans Affairs; as well as for agencies like NASA.

But furloughs for most government-sector workers will become a reality. Food inspectors will be exempt as part of a last-minute deal.

The Washington Post said on Thursday that nearly 1 million furlough notices will be sent to government employees and private-sector employees paid with government funds. Included in that total are about 800,000 civilian employees who worked for the Defense Department.

Some employees could be forced to take off, without pay, for 22 days until October, effectively seeing a 20 percent pay cut for that period.

Pay raises for federal employees were also put on the back burner as part of the resolution.

A last-second attempt by Senator Jerry Moran to keep rural air traffic control towers open failed, as did an effort by Senator Tom Coburn to divert funds to restore White House tours.

The sequester cuts will also result in job losses for workers whose employers have contracts with the government.

On Tuesday, the Huffington Post detailed layoffs at employers ranging from Washington State to Pennsylvania that won’t be getting government funds.

How extensive the job losses will be is subject to debate. Last month, the Congressional Budget Office estimated that 750,000 jobs would be cut by the end of 2013 because of the sequester.

Private economists who spoke to Reuters estimated the job losses at about 300,000, with consumer spending taking a hit from furloughed workers making less money.

Recent Constitution Daily Stories
Sequester facts: What happens next, what gets cut
Can Stephen Colbert discuss his sister’s election race on TV?
White House tours end today as sequester casualty

One expense that won’t be cut is congressional pay, which is protected by the 27th Amendment.

According to the Congressional Research Service, “Most exempt programs are mandatory, and include Social Security and Medicaid; refundable tax credits to individuals; and low-income programs such as the Children’s Health Insurance Program, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, and Supplemental Security Income.”

Programs like Head Start will see cuts, as well as some unemployment compensation programs provided by the federal government.

Nancy Reagan with the Easter bunnies.

In the latest developments, Republicans are howling at the White House sending notices to thousands of people who have tickets for the annual Easter Egg Roll on April 1.

The Washington Post obtained the notice sent out by the White House:

“Finally, by using these tickets, guests are acknowledging that this event is subject to cancellation due to funding uncertainty surrounding the Executive Office of the President and other federal agencies. … If cancelled, the event will not be re-scheduled. We will notify you if there are any modifications to this event.”

A White House spokesperson told CNN about why the notice was sent out.

“Because we distribute tickets to the Easter Egg Roll far in advance, we alerted all ticket holders that this event is subject to cancellation due to funding uncertainty, including the possibility of a government shutdown. However, we are currently proceeding as planned with the Easter Egg Roll,” a White House official told CNN.

The event is huge in many ways. As many as 50,000 people attend the Easter Egg Roll, and President Obama and the First Lady play a big part in the ceremonies.

In fact, Michelle Obama has invited the family of slain Chicago teen Hadiya Pendleton to the Easter Egg Roll.

Officially, the Obama administration is saying the bunny-friendly event would only be cancelled due to a possible government shutdown, and not because of government budget cuts related to the sequester.

Two weeks ago, the White House said it didn’t expect to cancel the Easter Egg Roll because of the sequester cuts, unlike its move to stop public White House tours.

The good news is that the Senate is moving quickly toward the approval of a continuing budget resolution, which if passed by the House this week would keep the Easter bunny and hundreds of thousands of government workers on the job past March 27.

But even that’s not 100 percent guaranteed. That’s because the continuing resolution proposed in the Senate makes the sequester cuts mostly permanent. The deal would allow government departments to target budget cuts, instead of across-the-board cuts by a fixed percentage.

So the deal to keep the government in business will lock in the total amount of the sequester budget cuts. The flexibility might allow some government agencies to avoid worker furloughs by cutting other costs.

Congress faces a Monday deadline to make all this happen because it is going to a two-week break for Passover and Easter.

“Remember Easter recess is staring us in the face,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said on Monday night, when he spoke about completing the resolution and a budget for the following fiscal year.

And as for the Founding Fathers, they probably would have a better understanding of the Easter bunny than the sequester and the continuing resolution. The Easter bunny tradition dates back to their time period; it was brought to the United States by German immigrants to Pennsylvania.

However, the ideas of the sequester dates back to the eras of Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton.

Recent Constitution Daily Stories
Constitution Check: Can there be no exceptions to Second Amendment gun rights?
White House dogged by tour cancellation critics
Does national GOP game plan include less tea party influence?
Fourth Amendment makes two digital privacy headlines

Source: Wikimedia Commons.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid had said he wanted the Senate version of the continuing resolution, a proposed House bill to fund federal government operations, passed by Friday.

Instead, Senate staffers will work this weekend trying to sort through about 100 amendments that weren’t on the House version tacked onto the bill by senators.

Related Story: What happens if the federal government shuts down on March 27?

Reid said on Thursday night that he hoped that voting on the revised version of the resolution would take place on Monday in the Senate. That version of the bill would need to go back to the House for approval or changes.

Congress is running up against two deadlines to pass the bill, which funds government operations until October 2013.

One deadline is a hard deadline: March 27. After that date, nonessential government agencies, such as the National Park Service, will close down.

The other deadline is a two-week recess for Congress for Passover and Easter, scheduled to start on March 25.

If the House and Senate were to observe the official holiday break between March 25 and April 5, that would give them six working days, including two weekend days, to reach a compromise on government funding—if the Senate can pass its own resolution on Monday.

And if the past is any indication, the vote could come close to the deadline, if it happens by March 27.

Congress couldn’t meet a January 1, 2013, deadline to pass legislation to avoid the “fiscal cliff” and needed overtime to pass a compromise that raised taxes and put off a debt ceiling deadline.

Congress also couldn’t reach a deadline to avoid the sequester, across-the-board budget cuts that affect most government agencies.

Among the amendments added by the senators are five resolutions on financial aid for Egypt.

One amendment that won’t go forward is a plan to spend $120 million in Guam for civilian infrastructure.

Both the House and Senate versions keep the overall spending cuts triggered by the sequester. The House version allows defense-related departments to decide how to make the cuts, instead of forcing them make across-the-board cuts to each department by the same percentage.

The Senate version extends flexibility to make cuts to agencies involved in agriculture, homeland security, commerce, justice and science.

So some agencies and workers could see their potential furloughs end, while other could see steeper cuts, depending on decisions made after the continuing resolution is passed.

The alternative would be a government shutdown starting after March 27.

All nonessential federal government operations will stop. For the public, National Park Service sites will be closed, as well as national museums and monuments. Applications for passports and visas can’t be processed. Hotline calls to the National Institutes of Health will go unanswered.

Hundreds of thousands of government workers will also be furloughed.

President Barack Obama, Reid, and House Speaker John Boehner have all publicly said they want to avert a shutdown at almost any cost.

Scott Bomboy is editor-in-chief of the National Constitution Center.

Recent Constitution Daily Stories
White House dogged by tour cancellation critics
Postal Service stuck in middle of budget battle
10 birthday facts about President Andrew Jackson
Constitution Check: Does the president have a duty to defend every law?

Source: Aaron Logan (Creative Commons).

Senator John McCain says amendments to a continuing resolution already approved by the House are riddled with pork–pet projects that favor certain senators and get around the massive sequester budget cuts.

“What we have found is egregious pork barrel spending,” McCain said. “I hope in the next few hours we’ll be able to finish examining the bill, but what we’ve found is so egregious … frankly it’s beyond anything I have ever seen in my years in the United States Senate.”

The House bill was expected to be amended by the Senate, and McCain was expected to protest, since he has a record as an anti-pork advocate.

Among the items that McCain objects to are a $100 million expenditure for algae research in Hawaii and $120 million for a public health laboratory and civilian waste water improvements in Guam. In all, McCain said he found 59 examples of pork in the bill–and he wasn’t done reading the document.

Another factor is something known as “changes in mandatory program spending,” or CHIMPS. (If there were an award for government acronyms, this one would probably win.)

Roll Call says several senators are supporting an effort from Idaho Senator Mike Crapo to “chimp” spending from mandatory funds for crime victims. This would involve not paying money out from the Crime Victims Fund and using that number as “savings,” which can be spent on other programs.

Senator Jeff Sessions has been a big critic of CHIMPS in the Senate’s budget battles. Last year, Sessions said the Crime Victims Fund has been hit with CHIMPS since 2000, as a way to continue spending on programs.

Last year, only $705 million of the fund was spent. The remaining $5.5 billion was frozen, and other programs were allowed to spend by an additional $5.5 billion.

Senator Ted Cruz is also proposing an amendment to stall any funds for the Affordable Care Act, an idea that has support from fellow senators Rand Paul and Marco Rubio.

The government shutdown would be two weeks from today if both the House and Senate can’t agree on a compromise resolution to fund the government until October.

Senate Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Barbara Mikulski introduced the Senate version of the bill on Tuesday, issuing a dire warning about the shutdown.

“On March 27 that continuing resolution expires. If we do not pass our bill and then have an agreement between the House and the Senate that is signed by the president, we could face a government shutdown,” Mikulski said. “Now there is no will on either side of this institution that wants to do that. We are absolutely committed to no shutdown, no showdown, no lockdown, no slamdown. We want to do the job. And that’s why we’ve been working very carefully to do that.”

The proposed 587-page bill is also full of spending that will change how money is allocated due to the sequester—the mandatory across-the-board defense and social spending cuts that went into effect on March 1.

The House version of the continuing resolution gives the Pentagon flexibility to decide how defense spending will be cut.

The Senate version restores some funding to social programs and extends flexibility for sequester cuts to the Homeland Security, Agriculture, Commerce, and Justice Departments.

Any stalling and debate over the continuing resolution will need to move at a fast pace. Traditionally, Congress takes a two-week break for Passover and Easter, which starts on the week of March 25.

And Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has plans for devoting next week to discussions about the budget for fiscal year 2014.

The first vote on the bill could come on Thursday. Reid wants approval to move the continuing resolution to the Senate floor for consideration.

Recent Constitution Daily Stories
Honoring the only dog to be awarded the Purple Hear
Would an American pope lose his U.S. citizenship?
Constitution Check: Could the president legally order a drone strike inside the U.S.?
Two tales of the Constitution, marijuana and guns

On Tuesday, the Obama administration issued a brief statement, blaming the end of White House tours on sequester budget cuts.

“Due to staffing reductions resulting from sequestration, we regret to inform you that White House Tours will be canceled effective Saturday, March 9, 2013, until further notice. Unfortunately, we will not be able to reschedule affected tours,” the White House said in a statement.

For now, the Easter Egg Roll for April 1 is still on. The annual event is subject to a ticket lottery, with an expected attendance of 35,000 people.

The Roll was started by President Rutherford B. Hayes in 1878 and the tradition has gone on since, with the exception of some interruptions due to World War I and World War II.

White House tours date back to the time of President Thomas Jefferson in 1805. Since then, the White House had remained open to visitors, except for times of war and in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

One of the most famous White House tour moments was in 1962, when First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy took 80 million television viewers inside the building for an exclusive tour. Kennedy was extensively involved in renovating the White House, which she first saw on an Easter visit as a child.

Tours were at 1.25 million annual visitors during the Clinton administration. Currently, the White House Visitor Center accommodates more than 600,000 people, after fewer tickets were made available in the past decade.

More recently, President Obama, the current first lady, Michelle Obama, and the first dog, Bo, have surprised visitors inside the building.

In recent years, tour tickets had to be obtained through a member of Congress, often months in advance. The White House will not honor any of these tickets after today.

The president’s critics in Congress were quick to comment on the closings—and to remind voters that Capitol tours would go on as scheduled.

House Speaker John Boehner said that he was upset the move was forcing fellow Congress members to give the bad news about the White House tours to constituents.

“It’s just silly. I want to know who is being laid off at the White House. The Capitol is open for tours. We’ve been planning for this for months,” he told CNBC.

The move does pose an embarrassment to the administration, which had promised to open up the building to more people.

On the White House’s official history web page, a statement is still intact from Michelle Obama about those goals.

“It’s a place that is steeped in history, but it’s also a place where everyone should feel welcome. And that’s why my husband and I have made it our mission to open up the house to as many people as we can,” the statement says.

Recent Constitution Daily Stories

Evidence suggests Thurmond 24-hour filibuster record is debatable

First proposed gun control laws coming from Senate

Rand Paul’s filibuster in historical terms

How the librarian of Congress controls your cellphone’s future

U.S. Capitol. Source: Cliff1066 (Flickr).

If you’re keeping score at home, $85 billion of federal spending cuts for the government’s current fiscal year will go into effect on March 2, as the sequester kicks in. But there is an even bigger budget battle brewing.

On March 27, the current continuing resolution that funds the government’s operations ends. Either a new resolution must be approved by the House and Senate, or a broader budget must be approved.

If Congress can’t reach a budget deal by March 27, all nonessential federal government operations stop. This happened in 1995 and 1996, and it wasn’t a pretty picture.

The current battle between Democrats and Republicans includes an insistence that no new taxes are levied (on the Republican side) and more taxes are needed to offset the sequester cuts (on the Democratic side).

The two parties have had a hard time agreeing on anything in Congress. The deal to avoid the fiscal cliff in January only came after the two sides missed a key deadline. It resulted in new tax revenues that GOP members insist must be matched by spending cuts like those in the sequester.

Given the inability of both parties to reach a consensus, the threat of a government shutdown is a possibility in late March, even though congressional leaders dread the thought of it.

Back in 1995 and 1996, Congress and the president were locked in a similar budget battle. The primary players were President Bill Clinton and House leader Newt Gingrich.

The first shutdown lasted from November 13 to 19, 1995. A temporary continuing resolution was agreed to in Congress to help budget talks along. The second shutdown was from December 16, 1995, to January 6, 1996.

About 15 years later, the Congressional Research Service analyzed the economic impact of the twin shutdowns.

Its 2011 report, the CRS says a shutdown, more precisely called a “funding gap,” is tied into the Constitution: Article I, Section 9, states that “No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law.”

If the budget appropriations process shuts down, then bills and people don’t get paid until the government is funded. Other laws define the shutdown process and allow spending for “emergencies involving the safety of human life or the protection of property.”

The CRS says one immediate effect is the “shutdown furlough” of many government employees. Members of Congress, the president, and other “excepted” workers aren’t furloughed.

In the 1995 shutdown, about 800,000 people were furloughed. The 1996 shutdown was partial, with 284,000 people furloughed, with others working on an unpaid basis.

Furlough-exempt programs include national security and homeland security; government-supplied medical services; food, drug, and environmental inspections; air traffic control; power grid activities; criminal investigations; and disaster assistance.

For the public, National Park Service sites will be closed, as well as national museums and monuments. Applications for passports and visas can’t be processed. Hotline calls to the National Institutes of Health will go unanswered.

And in 1995, some benefits were curtailed for veterans. Social Security checks will still go out, but new entitlement claims could be delayed, since employees to handle those claims may be affected. In the 1996 shutdown, the CRS says resources were diverted to help with Social Security issues.

The 1996 shutdown ended after 21 days, amid falling popularity numbers for both parties. President Clinton’s popularity numbers rose once the shutdown ended in an election year. The damage to the Republicans was more enduring.

In 1999, Senator John McCain spoke on the floor about how the shutdowns hurt his state.

“They told me that the shutdown cost them thousands of dollars because people could not go to the park. According to a CRS report, local communities near national parks alone lost an estimated $14.2 million per day in tourism revenues as a direct result of the government shutdown, for a total of nearly $400 million over the course of the shutdown. The cost of the last government shutdown cannot be measured in just dollars and cents,” he said.

The damage was so great from the 1995 and 1996 shutdowns that some observers believe congressional leaders Harry Reid and John Boehner will avoid that possibility at almost any cost.

At a Friday press conference about the sequester, President Obama told reporters that a shutdown needed to be averted.

“I think that’s preventable,” he said.

Boehner said at a press conference on Friday morning that he was “hopeful that we won’t have to deal with the threat of a government shutdown while we’re dealing with the sequester at the same time.”

Recent Constitution Daily Stories

What happens if the federal government shuts down on March 27?

March 4: A forgotten huge day in American history

Supreme Court’s upcoming child-custody decision: The Baby Veronica case

Sotomayor talks about life, career at National Constitution Center

If you recall, the world didn’t stop spinning in the year 2000 or December 2012, when those two other events came and went without so much as a whimper.

The sequester, though, seems real enough. The White House put out a list of potential travel problems, job cuts, and social program cuts last weekend. The sequester idea is part of several federal laws, including the Budget Control Act of 2011 (or BCA).

So how can it not be real? Let’s examine some key points to see the differences between “Sequester 2013,” the Mayan apocalypse of 2012, and the Y2K crisis of 1999.

1. One of the three hyped events is real.

The Y2K crisis came when technical experts realized that many crucial computers that ran massive financial and communications systems didn’t account for years beyond 1999 in its software. Years after the Y2K event, computer publisher IDC estimated spending on Y2K upgrades for computers at $134 billion (yes, billion with a B). Because of the massive spending, we’ll never know if the Y2K threat was real. But we do know that little happened on January 1, 2000, to the world’s computer systems.

The Mayan apocalypse seems to be a hyped event. It was a boon to some tourist destinations and a few websites that catered to “doomsday preppers.”

The sequester is a real threat, because absent a new law to replace it or stall its budget cuts, $85 billion in across-the-board spending cuts will be felt, starting in mid-April 2013. The jury is still out about the sequester damage claimed by the White House last weekend. Those estimates really can’t be made until the budget process plays out in March.

2. Is any of this in the Constitution?

The Constitution gives Congress the power to enact budget laws. In practice, the executive branch is also part of the process, since the president can veto a budget law. But the sequester itself dates back to the Ronald Reagan era as a budget tool dreamed up by Congress. It’s not in the Constitution.

The last time we checked, Y2K and the Mayan apocalypse weren’t in the Constitution. Thomas Jefferson, like the Mayans, had a keen interest in astronomy but in fact, Jefferson wasn’t in America when the Constitution was written in 1787; he was in France.

3. So why do some people think the sequester is all bark and no bite?

The sequester is part of a bigger budget negotiation that will take place in March over continuing budgeted funding for the federal government.

The next big deadline for Congress, assuming the sequester goes into effect on Friday, is March 27. That’s when stopgap funding for federal government operations runs out and the government faces a shutdown.

The cuts listed in the sequester plan would likely be changed by people in Congress who deal with appropriations. Some cuts may stay in place; others will likely go away. Immediate cuts related to the sequester, like furloughs for civilian workers, wouldn’t happen until a month after that March 27 deadline.

So for now, there’s a lot of bark in the sequester. The bite will be coming at a future date.

4. Is there a benefit from these hyped events?

In the case of Y2K, the huge investment in modernizing computer systems had a long-term benefit. It focused attention on technology at companies and government institutions. And it happened just before the dot-com bubble burst in March 2000. So the $134 billion investment came at a precipitous time.

For the Mayan apocalypse, tourism was up in Mexico and Guatemala, and makers of survival gear profited. But people of Mayan heritage were offended that their culture was turned into a marketing gimmick.

In the long run, some research shows that the sequester cuts, when left intact over the next 10 years, would reduce our federal government’s annual deficit significantly. But Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said on Tuesday that the immediate damage of an unchecked sequester would make deficit reduction harder over the next few years. The reason is that the cuts would hurt GDP growth. The possibility of another recession is also hovering over the sequester debate.

5. What would the ancient Mayans think about the sequester?

The Mayans lived in a society run by monarchs and priests, and they had a sophisticated government. But they really didn’t deal in modern currency and bartered with other trade partners outside their region. The words “budget meltdown” would scare them (if they existed in their language), because one of their currency-like barter instruments was chocolate. We’d also have to explain the separation of church and state to them. So they’d likely be confused.

The Mayan apocalypse wasn’t real. And the Y2K had a positive outcome, even if people overreacted to the threat. Our conclusion is that sequester is real, but people will need to watch the big budget brawl in Washington, which will occupy much of March, for the final outcome.

Scott Bomboy is the Editor-In-Chief of the National Constitution Center.

Recent Constitution Daily Stories

Sequester facts: What happens next, what gets cut

Why Congress protected its own pay in the sequester deal

Key part of Voting Rights Act in peril after Supreme Court session

Should a president face term limits when Congress doesn’t?