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So a man puts a gun to his own head and begins screaming, " If you don't do what I want, I will shoot myself."  There is a murmur from the crowd around him, but no one steps forward to engage him. What's left for him to do but pull the trigger?

Such is the situation our beloved Congress (recent polls place its approval rating at 13%) has created for itself. Having enacted sweeping reductions in government spending that will take effect on March 1- the euphemistically-labeled "sequester"- Congress, that exalted group of citizens that Mark Twain once described as America's only "distinctly native criminal class", seems incapable of finding a way to avoid pulling the sequestration trigger. While economists of varying political persuations warn that the precipitous reduction in spending will have a harsh impact on the economy and could spur a slide backward into recession, our elected representatives seem to be doing anything but finding solutions.

Neither party escapes responsibility for this boondoggle. The Republicans have pushed plans to replace the automatic cuts to the Pentagon's budget with increased cuts to safety-net programs such as food stamps.  For their part, the Democrats want to raise certain taxes and cut spending in areas such as farm subsidies. President Obama has asked that Congress do another short-term postponement in the hopes that a more comprehensive package of cuts and tax reform and increases might be worked out.  None of these approaches would appear to be able to garner enough support to become actual policy.

So, when this sad sack pulls the trigger and blows a hole in his head, there will be plenty of blood splattered on the walls around him. Just don't be surprised if there is no brain tissue found amidst the gore.