November 29, 2011

Super Committee: Success or Failure?

By Frank Ryan
In the Budget Control Act of 2011, Congress created the Super Committee.  The Super Committee, technically called the "Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction," was chartered with the responsibility to "reduce the deficit by at least $1,500,000,000,000 over the period of fiscal years 2012 to 2021." In the attempt to force a compromise on deficit reduction, the House and Senate decided to mandate specific cuts in defense and domestic programs to include Medicare, should the Super Committee not solve the deficit reduction problem.  The total reduction spending cuts under various assumptions in the bill could amount to over $1.2 trillion starting in 2013. Many have called the stalemate by the Committee a failure to compromise, with disastrous consequences to follow.  The stock market reacted very negatively, and financial markets both here and abroad are in continued turmoil and flux. The failure to "compromise" may, in fact, be the greatest success of the Super...(Read Full Article)