FORTUNE — We’re just three days away from the looming sequester, and Sen. Chuck Schumer apparently believes it’s fait accompli. Not because it’s good policy, or because Congress and President Obama have just run out of time to draft a reasonable solution. No, it’s because both political parties need to flex their muscles.
Here is the relevant hearsay, as recounted this morning by Apollo Global Management (APO) founder Leon Black, at the SuperReturn International conference in Berlin, Germany:
“The market has pretty well discounted this whole sequester circus that’s going on… I saw Chuck Schumer at a wedding over the weekend. He told me the sequester is going to go through, at least for a few days, because both sides need to prove how tough they are.”
Okay, okay. We get it. You’re both super-tough. Like GI Joe and He-Man welded together by the heat of a radioactive spider bite. And you’re kings of your weekend fight club, where first prize is Hulk Hogan complimenting your biceps.
That good enough Chuck? Can you stop now with this petty posturing, before it causes real people real pain? After all, one would think you might be in a position of authority to do more than lament the circus.
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