COMMENT
Breadcrumb trail navigation:
By Steven Rattner
Published: April 25 2011 19:17 | Last updated: April 25 2011 19:17
Never particularly grounded in reality, budget talk in Washington has taken on an Alice in Wonderland quality. A paroxysm of deficit cutting is sweeping the US, with Republicans and Democrats hurling around dubious figures like confetti. But both are trying to win the battle to be the party of fiscal responsibility without broaching the one step every sensible analyst knows is necessary to solve America's budget crisis: meaningful tax increases.
Fiscal hawks can be heartened by the all-deficit-cutting, all-the-time mood; a consequence of the triumph of the Republicans and their Tea Party allies in the 2010 midterm elections. Indeed, a few diehard liberal elements apart, both sides have grasped deficit reduction in a smothering embrace. With conservatives determined to hold raising the US federal debt ceiling hostage to a deficit agreement, some progress toward reducing the current gap seems likely.
You have viewed your allowance of free articles. If you wish to view more, click the button below.
Read Full Article »