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Independence, MO —
Big picture: It was always a terrible idea to leave vital, long-term fiscal policy questions to a lame-duck Congress.
More fiscal standoffs are coming in 2013, again the result of a dysfunctional Congress.
The “fiscal cliff” was averted at the 11th hour but at a steep cost and with little impact on the bigger issue: deficit spending resulting from citizens demanding more in government services than they are accustomed to paying for in taxes and Washington leaders afraid to confront voters with some hard math.
A quick recap. Congress precipitated this crisis in the summer of 2011, when lawmakers deadlocked over the simple issue, raising the federal government’s debt ceiling. That delay, recall, led to one of the major credit-ratings agencies lowering the nation’s bond rating. To get out of that mess, Congress said, OK, let’s create another mess. We’ll appoint a commission to look into the debt – a sham, as the commission went nowhere – and if we can’t work out some spending and taxation issues within 18 months, then Draconian measures will kick in.
Translation: Just get us past the 2012 elections, and we promise to do the right thing immediately after that.
The Draconian measures were avoided, but barely. The tax increases were largely averted, but decisions on spending cuts were – of course – delayed for two months. Here’s the thing. A promise of work is not the same as work. A two-month delay just means a deadline to decide whether to act or delay again.
And the fiscal cliff agreement does some, but too little, to address the deficit. (Missouri’s two senators, Claire McCaskill and Roy Blunt, voted for the measure, as did Congressman Emanuel Cleaver II, who represents most of Eastern Jackson County. Congressman Sam Graves did not vote, saying he was detained, but said he would have voted no.)
The stock market on Wednesday was happy that a deal – any deal, any degree of certainty – was struck, but how confident will businesses sitting on piles of cash and consumers struggling paycheck to paycheck be, knowing what’s still coming? There’s the fight over spending cuts in a couple of months plus a likely fight over again raising the debt ceiling. Those are likely to be merged into one standoff again.
President Obama says he won’t negotiate over the need to pay bills Congress has already incurred, which is another way of looking the debt ceiling. That’s an entirely defensible position – but hardly realistic.
It’s also worth noting that in the all the last-minute hullabaloo, Congress failed to approve help for victims of Hurricane Sandy.
Here’s what Standard & Poors said when it downgraded the bond rating in 2011: The nation’s elected leaders don’t have their act together. They cannot be depended upon for the steps needed for the day-to-day operation of government, let alone taking steady, painful steps toward getting the deficit under control. Just about everything Congress did in this lame-duck session reaffirms that sad assessment.
Big picture: It was always a terrible idea to leave vital, long-term fiscal policy questions to a lame-duck Congress.
More fiscal standoffs are coming in 2013, again the result of a dysfunctional Congress.
The “fiscal cliff” was averted at the 11th hour but at a steep cost and with little impact on the bigger issue: deficit spending resulting from citizens demanding more in government services than they are accustomed to paying for in taxes and Washington leaders afraid to confront voters with some hard math.
A quick recap. Congress precipitated this crisis in the summer of 2011, when lawmakers deadlocked over the simple issue, raising the federal government’s debt ceiling. That delay, recall, led to one of the major credit-ratings agencies lowering the nation’s bond rating. To get out of that mess, Congress said, OK, let’s create another mess. We’ll appoint a commission to look into the debt – a sham, as the commission went nowhere – and if we can’t work out some spending and taxation issues within 18 months, then Draconian measures will kick in.
Translation: Just get us past the 2012 elections, and we promise to do the right thing immediately after that.
The Draconian measures were avoided, but barely. The tax increases were largely averted, but decisions on spending cuts were – of course – delayed for two months. Here’s the thing. A promise of work is not the same as work. A two-month delay just means a deadline to decide whether to act or delay again.
And the fiscal cliff agreement does some, but too little, to address the deficit. (Missouri’s two senators, Claire McCaskill and Roy Blunt, voted for the measure, as did Congressman Emanuel Cleaver II, who represents most of Eastern Jackson County. Congressman Sam Graves did not vote, saying he was detained, but said he would have voted no.)
The stock market on Wednesday was happy that a deal – any deal, any degree of certainty – was struck, but how confident will businesses sitting on piles of cash and consumers struggling paycheck to paycheck be, knowing what’s still coming? There’s the fight over spending cuts in a couple of months plus a likely fight over again raising the debt ceiling. Those are likely to be merged into one standoff again.
President Obama says he won’t negotiate over the need to pay bills Congress has already incurred, which is another way of looking the debt ceiling. That’s an entirely defensible position – but hardly realistic.
It’s also worth noting that in the all the last-minute hullabaloo, Congress failed to approve help for victims of Hurricane Sandy.
Here’s what Standard & Poors said when it downgraded the bond rating in 2011: The nation’s elected leaders don’t have their act together. They cannot be depended upon for the steps needed for the day-to-day operation of government, let alone taking steady, painful steps toward getting the deficit under control. Just about everything Congress did in this lame-duck session reaffirms that sad assessment.
