Opinion Forum

Supercommittee Deadlines

November 15th, 2011

The Washington Post has published a series of charts showing the supercommittee’s deadlines and related actions and what happens if they’re all successfully met. It also shows what will happen, as specified in the Budget Control Act, if the deadlines aren’t met. This is the best brief summary I’ve seen.

The Post also reported on the impact of this supercommittee-related uncertainty on business activity as we enter the crucial Thanksgiving-Christmas shopping period. This uncertainty, combined with economic and monetary uncertainty in Europe and shaky financial markets, could have a seriously negative impact on the most important time of the year for businesses. A strong holiday season could be a significant boon to the economy; a weak holiday season will further weaken it.

Businesses continue to sit on huge piles of cash, unwilling to invest in the kinds of activities that would go a long way toward getting the economy going again because of the huge uncertainties they face. Meanwhile, the kiddies in Washington continue knocking each other’s blocks over, seemingly with little concern about what they’re doing to the country. The President refuses to approve the Keystone XL pipeline that would employ thousands very quickly and improve our energy posture, Congress fails to meet it’s basic functions of raising revenue and budgeting, and on and on ad nauseum.

The Republic is in deep trouble, mainly because those entrusted with ensuring its welfare are failing miserably. We must make them pay the ultimate price for their fecklessness and vote them out of office. Which of them should go? Any Democrat or Republican who has shown that he or she is unwilling or unable to compromise ideology in the interests of the nation should soon have to find a real job — if he or she can.

Articles written by Tom Carter
Tags: budget, Congress, cuts, deadlines, defense, entitlements, supercommittee
Categories: Economics, News, Politics | Comments (1) | Home

One Response to “Supercommittee Deadlines”

Dan Miller | November 16th, 2011 at 4:54 pm

A strong holiday season could be a significant boon to the economy. . . True, but probably of only short duration. What happens on and after December 26th?

Some taxes could and probably will be raised. However, taxes and revenues are not the same and do not necessarily travel in tandem; taxes can go up and revenues down, or vice versa. If taxable sources decline, revenues from them will drop or remain the same.

If the federal government needs additional revenues, something of which I am far from sure, mightn’t a better time for that be after the economy has rebounded a bit and the present business uncertainties have diminished? Numerous federal programs and regulations have created many of those uncertainties; various states are also culpable, but that’s a different subject. The EPA has been one of the major impediments and now, with delay, “transparently” until after next year’s election, of the proposed pipeline from Canada to the U.S. Gulf Coast, the same is true of the State Department. Wouldn’t doing away with some of those regulations — and taking funding away from the agencies that promulgate them — work better?