Credit: 401(K) 2013/ FoterIt's hard to hear yourself think over all the caterwauling on Capitol Hill about the looming sequestration "crisis." For opponents of the spending cuts—at $85 billion, 2.3 percent of the $3.6 trillion federal budget—the rallying cry is half Lord Keynes, half St. Augustine: "Grant me chastity and continence—but not yet."

But as Gene Healy explains, the time for a little fiscal continence has long since arrived. Economists have found that when a country's debt-to-GDP ratio surpasses 90 percent, you see slower economic growth; we're currently above 100 percent.