IBD Editorial: Debt Deal "'Painful' Cuts? Anything But"

To read the important article showing just how measly these so-called "cuts" are, visit http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article/580096/201108011834/Painful-Cuts-Anything-But.htm. As IBD puts it, "according to IBD's analysis of available budget numbers, the deal's $2.4 trillion in 10-year cuts amounts to a mere 5% trim off total projected federal spending during that time. It's like a 400-pound man boasting that he plans to drop 20 pounds over a decade, while his doctors warn about the risks of losing weight so fast." In fact a friend of mine pointed out that a closer analogy would be a 400-pound man boasting that he was only going to gain 100 pounds in the next decade instead of 120.



On the other hand, Republicans controlling one half of one branch of government, and in that half the tea party element being just a part of the majority therein, it is hard to imagine real reforms coming to fruition. I guess the main victory was no "revenue" (i.e., tax) raising, but the "cuts" are obviously not meaningful and do not address the underlying problems at all, and what would be most useful, a Constitutional Amendment, for some reason stood no chance. Getting someone serious in the White House, keeping control of the House, and making gains in the Senate are going to be essential if any real solutions to this problem are going to even be fathomable. Tweet