Mark Zandi: Economy Can 'Digest' Looming Budget Cuts

Top Economist Says Economy Can 'Digest' Budget Cuts

Mark Zandi does not like the big budget slasher known as sequestration, but he figures the economy could stomach a helping of austerity if it had to.

"I think the economy could digest the sequestration," Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody's Analytics, told me. "It would suffer slower growth, but it wouldn't push the economy back into recession."

News that reduced government spending helped shrink the U.S. economy 0.1 percent at the end of last year has liberal economists warning that more cuts could cause another recession.

Zandi doesn't think so, and members of Congress listen to him. Faced with a choice to avert the cuts now scheduled for March, already lawmakers are saying "meh."

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