WHAT WILL THE SUPERCOMMITTEE END UP WITH?

By Bob Walsh

PACOVILLA Corrections blog
November 20, 2011

So, what will the outcome be? A home run, a stand-up double perhaps? A hard-won single? Maybe a pop-up fly or even a strike-out? We will know in a couple of days.

What happens back in DC will have an effect on us, that’s for sure. I am not sure that the ineffectiveness of Congress and the polarization and gridlock under the dome in Sacramento are reflections of each other, but clearly there are some parallels.

There are well-intention people involved. There are greedy and venal ones too. There are strongly felt and honestly held political positions. And there is an unwillingness to bend or compromise. Is that because those involved are so sure that their positions are right or is it because winning the political game is more important to them than doing their job? I wish I knew. (I am betting it won’t be a home run, and a stand-up double is unlikely in the extreme.)

One thing for sure, the longer the crisis goes on the worse it looks to others concerned, and the more it will cost us in the long run.

EDITOR’S NOTE:

Not to worry Bob, no problem.

The supercommittee will strike-out. Then the mandatory cuts will occur. But since the cuts will not take effect until 2013, Congress has plenty of time to undo them and put a different set of cuts in place.

The only winner in the deficit reduction impasse is President Obama who can run against a do-nothing Congress and an obstructionist Republican Party. The congressional gridlock and a badly wounded survivor among the ho-hum candidates in the GOP primary campaign will likely let Obama serve a second term.

Now that’s the real problem!