As soon as the election is over expect a powerful renewed push for a “grand bargain” that cuts entitlements. Already Erskine Bowles and Al Simpson have raised $25 million for the Fix the Debt campaign to push for a deal in the lame duck session, and we now have the top Wall Street executives laying [...]

If President Obama’s obsession over the past three and a half year with reaching a “grand bargain” with Republicans on the deficit left any doubt about what Obama’s second term would be focused on, then his convention acceptance speech should put an end to that. The speech focused more on what Obama had done than [...]

On the front of Politico is an article about how the big bipartisan deals that used to be relatively common in Congress now appear to be a thing of the past. From Politico: Call it the Split the Difference Scenario — a dream of Washington at its civic-minded best that has flourished for decades, even [...]

The American people overwhelmingly think the Super Committee will fail to reach a deal on the deficit. According to Quinnipiac polling, an overwhelming 67 percent think the Super Committee will fail to come up with a plan, while only 27 percent think it is likely that they will. Probably part of the reason the American [...]

I was pleasantly surprised that President Obama in his deficit speech today didn’t publicly endorse cuts to Social Security benefits or call for any specific major cuts to Medicare benefits. This is a significant improvement compared to the trial balloons we have been seeing for the past months, which indicated raising the Medicare eligibility age [...]

The threat to Medicare is very real and pressing. Last night the President suggested he still wants to change Medicare in a way “some in his party” won’t like. We are seeing a convergence of deficit hysteria, a Democratic president who wants to have a “Nixon goes to China moment” with Medicare and powerful corporate lobbyists in pursuit of bigger profits.

Republican Super Congress member Sen. Jon Kyl (AZ) has come out against the committee trying to reach a “grand bargain” that includes new taxes and entitlement reform. From National Journal: A top Republican on the super committee charged with finding $1.5 trillion in deficit cuts over 10 years said on Tuesday he will ask fellow [...]

If so many people are saying you got beaten that you actually feel the need to start publicly declaring you didn’t cave, that means you caved. From the White House’s absurd attempt to defend the debt ceiling deal with lies: Myth: President Obama caved. Fact: President Obama laid out key priorities that had to be [...]

Large majorities of Americans oppose even a minor reduction in spending on Medicare or Social Security according to the newest Kaiser Family Foundation poll. 62 percent of the country wants no reductions to Social Security and 59 percent wants to see no reductions in Medicare spending. The American people really like their Medicare and Social [...]

I think a big problem with the politics of this debt ceiling fight is that the American people don’t know how incredibly stupid the concept of the debt ceiling really is. This is why the only real highlight from President Obama’s rather bizarre public address yesterday was, for me, that he finally started trying to [...]