Deficit talks were doomed from start

The failure of the special deficit-reduction supercommittee to reach agreement on a plan to reduce the deficit after two months of talks can be compared to putting six alcoholics and six drug addicts in a room who had no thoughts of quitting and who did not feel their type of addiction was a problem and asking them to convince each other to stop. It just won’t work if they’re not ready to change. And the supercommittee wasn’t.

As the middle class has slowly migrated over the last 20 years into the haves and have-nots, our two-party system of government has morphed into two distinct groups, both with myopic and selfish views about “fairness” and increasingly less regard for each other’s wants and needs. Our legislation is no longer based upon a wholistic view of the country and its populace with a goal of creating the “best” solution with everyone’s needs and wants in mind. At best, even bipartisan-backed legislation is no more than a suboptimized conclusion based upon the two parties trying to get the most they can for their “side,” not what’s best for the whole.

There were quite enough revenue-creating and expense-reduction opportunities for this super(?)committee to realize its rather modest goal. And, they still failed because they weren’t ready to change. And why should they be?

Remember, if they failed, it would trigger about $1 trillion over nine years in automatic across-the-board spending cuts with about half of that ($454 billion) coming from the Pentagon. Capitol Hill hawks promise they won’t allow them to be that deep. Maybe they know and feel that in the interest of national security (or another conflict) you, the American people, wouldn’t let that happen, would you? Gotta spend what ya gotta spend! Right?

Tom Franzak

Hoffman Estates