Not with a bang but with a whimper

That didn't take long. From FoxNews:

Deficit Commission Report Fails to Advance to Congress

"A sweeping proposal aimed at cutting $4 trillion from the budget over the next decade failed to win enough votes Friday to clear the commission President Obama entrusted to solve the nation's daunting fiscal problems. "

I don't have much use for either Erskine Bowles or Alan Simpson. I didn't think their proposal was anything special. But they did at least skewer a few sacred cows and that is to be applauded. I guess it was too much to hope for that we might finally have a serious national conversation about government debt.

If one considers not only the reported national debt but unfunded liabilities of Social Security and Medicare, the United States now owes more than the GDP of the entire world. You can't overcome that by, "soaking the rich." And you can't overcome it by borrowing 40 cents of every dollar spent.

It appears that, like a drunk, we are going to have to hit bottom before we can start getting better. That is going to be a very, very ugly thing indeed.