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The budget deal
How to budget like a superpower
雪狗Dec 11th 2013, 3:13 by J.P.P. | WASHINGTON, D.C.
A DUSTING of snow, which soon turned to rain, shut down much of Washington, DC on December 10th. Grey slush on the sidewalks made the buildings that hou tho government agencies not blesd with familiar acronyms设备配件 look even more Soviet than they usually do. The wonkishly minded waited for news from the budget conference headed by Senator Patty Murray for the Democrats and Congressman Paul Ryan (picture
d) for the Republicans, which was rumoured to have reached a deal. At around six o’clock it came, a emingly impossible mix of modest deficit cuts, spending ris and revenues magically raid without corresponding tax increas. There looks to be enough in it to keep all parties happy, reducing the possibility of a man-made government shutdown in January and holding out the promi of a Congress that functions a little better.
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When this round of budget talks began, I asked a congressman what there was to talk about given that each side already knew the other’s position line by line. The negotiation, he explained, would turn on the meaning of words like “revenue”涤纶锦纶, “lol寡妇打野spending威海游记” and “tax”—it would be a kind of high-stakes philology. He was right. The cuts impod by the quester, a package of indiscriminate spending reductions designed to force both sides to do a deal in 2011, have been ead a bit. This allows Democrats to say that spending is higher as a result of the deal. Yet enough of the quester’s cuts remain in place for Republicans to say that the deal helps reduce the budget deficit. An incread fee paid by air pasngers gives Democrats some extra revenue, which they wanted, but it is not
an obvious tax increa, which would have been unacceptable to Republicans.
There is one politically difficult thing in the agreement: federal workers will have to contribute more towards their pensions. But for the most part this is a deal that succeeded becau it does not require either side to make meaningful compromis, in the n of giving up something which is dear to them. The process that led to the deal is welcome. This is the first budget conference since 2010: in the intervening years there emed no point in holding one as the two sides were so far apart. The substance, though, is not much more than an agreement to keep the lights on. That ought to mean it can get past Congress, where Hou Republicans are unlikely to bring on another government shutdown while they are having such fun with Obamacare.刷牙洗脸
If the propod deal does pass it will restore some optimism that the legislative branch is not quite as broken as it emed. It should also give the economy a gentle push. Oxford Economics, a consultancy, reckons it would increa growth by 0.3 percentage points, bringing 2014’s GDP number clo to 3%. In contrast to the past two years, America would head into the new year without having to brace for further fiscal tightening.
(Photo credit: AFP)