As the days dwindle before the U.S. government reaches its fiscal cliff, there is a place where both parties should be looking to find a compromise.
The Simpson-Bowles deficit reduction commission provides an outline for how Democrats and Republicans can come together and avoid the kind of mess to which we’ll wake on New Year’s Day if they fail to do so.
Their plan itself is not quite the answer, for reasons we will state later. But the process through which Erskine Bowles, a veteran of the Clinton White House, and former Sen. Alan Simpson of Wyoming reached their agreement is.
Both are smart men who are experts in government budgets. We in North Carolina know Greensboro native Bowles well for the good work he did as president of the UNC system and for his service as chief of staff for Clinton, who led his Democratic party to a successful, business-friendly middle ground. In the process, Bowles was often “the adult in the room” that critics have clamored for during the fiscal-cliff impasse.
And Bowles and Simpson know how to reach a settlement among competing sides.
Their plan is not perfect. Congress rejected it, and President Obama has all but ignored it.
A recent analysis by The Washington Post explains why a plan that sounds so good when summarized — it significantly shrinks the federal deficit by spreading the pain evenly — is politically unacceptable. It proposes $2.6 trillion in tax increases over 10 years. That’s more than Obama, $1.6 trillion, and the House GOP, $800 billion, combined. And the ratio of tax cuts to spending cuts is almost one-to-one, with cuts only slightly higher.
With dire consequences staring at us from the other side of the holidays, the American people need a few statesmen to step forward. This is never easy in a negotiation. No bargainers want to crack first and give away too much of what they consider important.
That’s where Bowles and Simpson can come in. If drawn into the process, they can help shape alternative proposals that will reflect that both sides are winning on key points while also sacrificing on others.
The fact that they have done this kind of bargaining with each other clearly demonstrates that they are right for the job.
— Distributed by The Associated Press
Do you think that idiot knows anything about economics? HA HA HA HA HA HA HA! I bet his GPA in college was about 2.0 with lots of help. We don’t know because he is ashamed to release his grades. He is afraid we might find out he is an affirmative action dunce. I don’t think he can pump his own gas! We’re sunk! HE WANTS US TO GO OVER THE CLIFF! It will expedite our fall into his brand of politics (communism.)
People in the press actually kiss up to that POS! Time gave him man of the year over Kim Sung Un (or whatever the guy’s name is). Time’s article was sickening to read. It was dripping with saccharine words of adulation. The editor obviously wrote the piece while on his knees. I think bobo should go over to North Korea and bow to his new masters. The only thing he does well is bow and run up the debt!
In answer to what he is going to do about the economic collapse: NOTHING! We had the chance to have an adult run the nation, but the minorities chose the man-child (they just had to have their "bama phone"). You libs own the economy now! By the way, unemployment is up again!