Only a Lazy Compromise Can Save America

U.S. policy could still narrowly avert national bankruptcy. But it’s a lazy compromise, decided upon by politicians who aren’t thinking beyond the next election.

Political America has proven itself capable of finding a compromise in the debate over the debt. Acute, imminent national bankruptcy will be avoided. That’s good — and important — news.

However, it’s a lazy compromise on which the Democrats and Republicans have finally agreed. America’s debt problem will be only marginally alleviated through this plan.

Between 2012 and 2014, the annual deficit will be reduced by barely more than $40 million — a laughably small sum — in comparison to the current debt level of already over $14 trillion. The new debt is projected to fall noticeably in the second half of the decade.

For politicians, who aren’t thinking beyond the next election, this approach makes sense. Since the latest economic indicators from America are alarmingly weak, a severe austerity policy for the U.S. federal government could all too easily allow the largest political economy in the world to slide into a new recession.