http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinio...y.html?hpid=z2
E.J. Dionne Jr.
Opinion Writer
How we can succeed through supercommittee’s ‘failure’
By E.J. Dionne Jr., Published: November 16
Here is a surefire way to cut $7.1 trillion from the deficit over the next decade. Do nothing.
That’s right. If Congress simply fails to act between now and Jan. 1, 2013, the tax cuts passed under President George W. Bush expire, $1.2 trillion in additional budget cuts go through under the terms of last summer’s debt-ceiling deal, and a variety of other tax cuts also go away.
Knowing this, are you still sure that a “failure” by the congressional supercommittee to reach a deal would be such a disaster?
In an ideal world, of course, reasonable members of Congress could agree to a balanced package of long-term spending cuts and tax increases to begin bringing the deficit down, coupled with short-term measures to boost the economy.
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