IT DOESN'T MUCH MATTER WHAT THE DEAL IS...:

Six Members of Supercommittee Break Away in Bid to Forge Debt Deal (Eleanor Clift, Nov 11, 2011, Daily Beast)

With time running out before the panel's November 23 deadline, some of the ideas reportedly before the committee include means-testing for Social Security on people with adjusted gross incomes over $1 million; ending the Bush tax cuts for incomes over $1 million; adjusting the way inflation is calculated to save on Social Security cost-of-living increases; and ending many subsidies for energy, chiefly oil and coal, but also the money for new sustainable energy, which is exhausted anyway. Some of the money saved on energy incentives would go to an infrastructure bank; the rest to deficit reduction. [...]

A Democratic leadership aide put the odds of a successful deal at 30 to 35 percent, with success defined as reaching $1.2 to $1.4 trillion in cuts. The days of the so-called Grand Bargain of $4 trillion are gone, he says. And failure is an option. "If we come out of here with nothing, the voters will say we told you so.... There's a reason everybody hates us, we're dysfunctional. They're right."

The rump group of six includes Michigan Republicans Dave Camp and Fred Upton, both longtime members of the House, and Ohio freshman Republican Sen. Rob Portman, who was President Bush's budget director. The Democrats are represented by two veteran senators, John Kerry and Max Baucus, along with Maryland Rep. Chris Van Hollen.

If the six can find a deal they can support, they would need one more member to achieve a majority, and speculation is that Arizona Republican Jon Kyl might be the seventh vote. "If the train starts leaving, do more people get on, or get off?" says a Hill source.

...the appearance of progress would be good for the economy.

Posted by oj at November 11, 2011 6:18 AM
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