Perhaps the greatest sign that the “debt debate” in Washington lacks substance or any real concern about the deficit is that there is never an actual objective goal, like a deficit that is some percent of GDP by 2022. Instead the calls seem always focused on demanding a single grand bargain deal for “$4 trillion [...]

President Obama’s deficit speech may be viewed as the moment the Obama administration fully pivots away from trying to reach bipartisan compromise, to instead focusing on winning 2012 by bashing the Republican Party. The first half of President Obama’s first term was marked by an obsession with reaching bipartisan compromise. Obama wasted an absurd amount [...]

AARP is very much open to supporting cutting Social Security benefits. AARP’s push back and non-denial related to the recent Wall Street Journal article was simply that they didn’t want people to infer that AARP supported Social Security being part of the specific deficit ceiling negotiations going on at this moment. Separate from those exact [...]