When did everyone in Washington, the press corps, and the punditry morph into Chicken Little? You probably recall the fairy tale character that dashed about insisting that the sky was falling. If you listen closely the debate over a possible government shutdown you would think the sky was about to land on your head.

The looming shutdown is a result of a budget battle stalemate featuring at least four competing plans to make modest spending cuts to the federal budget: The House Republicans have proposed a $61 billion cut, Senate Democrats have proposed a cut of $11 billion, the Obama administration called for a total of $20 billion in cuts, and the White House and Senate Democrats have put forward an odd “compromise” plan of $30 billion in cuts. When we are reminded that these amounts would be extracted from a $3.7 trillion federal budget, the whole thing seems much less severe and unbelievably asinine.

So why are the people behind these plans so far apart from reaching a deal? Republicans are crying that the Democrats and the Obama administration are card-carrying Commies bent on spending as much money as possible on social programs and other Karl Marx-approved items like public broadcasting and abortion services rather than making cuts. The Democrats are warning that the Republican plan to slash $61 billion would force old people to eat dog food, throw families out in the streets, and end Western civilization. In short, there is no deal because both sides are spewing bunk instead of trying to fix the problem.

A prolonged standoff is likely lead to a government shutdown, the possibility of which has wing nuts on the far right foaming at the mouth, praying for a shutdown and suggesting that they have a mandate to bring the government to a standstill. Meanwhile, moonbats on the left are in a state of utter hysteria, implying that the United States will spontaneously combust if the government shutters for more than 20 seconds, which is as equally false.

Welcome to Chicken Little’s Washington.

Truth be told, the moonbats on the left fringe are wrong to suggest that doomsday is near if the decision to cut $61 billion is cut from the federal budget comes to pass. Their hysteria over a shutdown is mind-numbing and not worthy of being taken seriously. On the other hand, the wingnuts pushing for a shutdown are clueless too. Shutting down the government won’t help their party in the 2012 elections nor would $61 billion in cuts really help save the economy or the federal budget.

Let’s face the facts. Cutting $11, $20, $30, or $61 billion out of a $3.8 trillion budget is not a serious solution to our long-term fiscal crisis. It would have no real budget impact. It would not make a dent in the $14.26 trillion national debt and it won’t address the deficits that have piled up as a result of embarrassingly sloppy fiscal management from Democratic and Republican politicians alike.

The cuts look even less remarkable when you compare them to the overall size of the federal budget. The $61 billion cut would represent less than 2% of all federal spending. To compare them side-by-side, just look at the graph below and follow it to the far-right column that shows the actual impact of each proposal on the monstrous federal budget. In all, the cuts proposed in these plans are negligible at best.

In an email missive sent out on Thursday afternoon, former two term New Mexico Governor and potential presidential candidate Gary Johnson stated that “At the rate we are going, the national debt will equal the entire GDP of the United States in about 10 years.  By 2025, tax revenues will only cover interest on that debt, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid – with nothing left over to pay for ‘discretionary’ things like national defense and homeland security.”

Johnson continues by highlighting the lack of gravity among the current $11-$20-$30-$61 billion proposals: “We are facing a financial collapse under the weight of more than a trillion dollars in deficit spending, and Washington is pretending to wage a budget battle royale over whether to cut spending by 1% or 2%.”

Johnson is right. This debate is a joke and politicians who would threaten a shutdown over these piddling amounts of money shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near Washington. No matter which side “wins,” all will be able to get the press attention they want, raise more money for the 2012 campaigns, and continue to kick the can down the road. The unfortunate part for us is that the road ends somewhere, and probably not in a good part of town.

At least Gary Johnson is telling the truth. Maybe we need to hire him to take the lead in 2012.