Why Congress's “Supercommittee” Failed to Solve the Debt Problem a Decade Ago
From 2011.
[This article was originally titled, Why the “Supercommittee” Will Fail to Solve the Debt Problem.]
Because it was designed to fail.
If the Congress had wanted to get the debt problem solved, it would have voted for “failure sanctions” with sharp teeth.
What are the negative sanctions for failing to come to an agreement? Few people remember. Do you?
Here is what will take place if the supercommittee fails to come up with a plan: a $120 billion a year cut in spending over 10 years, beginning in January 2013. That means $1.2 trillion, total.
What is the estimated increase in the U.S. government’s debt over 10 years? Over 10 trillion dollars — $9.75 trillion through 2020. (No government agency is projecting to 2023.)
In short, the proposed cuts are window dressing. They are duct tape on the iceberg side of the Titanic.
As for the law, it can be changed at any time.
In other words, the entire idea of the Supercommittee was a sham to placate Tea Party Congressmen. Congress had no intention of cutting spending or putting a cap on the debt. Congress wanted to get Tea Party voters to shut up and stop pressuring the House to cut spending.
The Tea Party voters back home did stop pressuring Congress. But they will be back next November. We will see then if they have the votes to elect politicians with enough votes and enough willpower to make the necessary cuts.
Continue reading on The Daily Beast.
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Published on November 2, 2011. The original is here.
On November 20, 2011, The Daily Beast announced that the plan was dead on arrival.
The forecast in 2011 was an increase in the debt of $9.7 trillion over the next ten years. We are not there yet. We have five months to go until the fiscal year ends.
Since the beginning of fiscal year 2011, the debt has increased by $14 trillion.
The Tea Party movement was close to dead by 2016. I kept publishing on my Tea Party Economist site until 2017.