[cranked]

In other words, we are fraked and will be beyond fraked when they are finished, Mr. Weinstein?

[ken21]

believe that when i see it.

[crz]

Unconstitutional.

[Nervous Tick]

a) a decision by any single member could boost any proposal past the required threshold
b) [therefore compelling] every member of the commission to negotiate in a serious manner.
c) That diminishes the likelihood that political shenanigans will scuttle this deal

Sorry; c does not follow from b, and b does not follow from a.

[marktwain]

Political gridlock has managed to scuttle several successive efforts to get a handle on the federal debt.

Utter nonsense. The Dems had the Presidency and both houses, and would not even pass a budget. It is not political gridlock that is preventing getting a handle on the debt, it is the MSM blasting the Republicans anytime they try to do so.

[BarbM]

Unconstitutional assembly, thought up by an illegal president.

[MSF BU]

Succeed at what? Mothballing 3 Aircraft Carriers and reducing the Army/Marines by 100K men? Gutting the military retirement system and screwing those recently retired? These are going to be some “interesting times” and not in a good way either.

[lurk]

There should be no supercommittee. Congress simply lacks the nads and the integrity to make the right and hard decisions. It’s not constitutional and sets a bad precedent.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

So, in an age where “shorting” the market has become a sort of dirty word, the smart money may be in betting that Washington will enact a responsible comprehensive budget framework by the end of the year.

Translation: Taxes out the wazoo, and not one cent of spending cuts.

Other than imaginary spending cuts fifty years from now.

[fortheDeclaration]

The 'supercommittee' is unconstitutional.

It is a disgrace that the GOP agreed to it.

[SkyPilot]

For it to "succeed" it would have to cut Entitlements and Welfare.

Call me what that happens.

[norwaypinesavage]

"the 12-member supercommittee may be able to implement a plan that sets the nation back on track."

Hardly. The 1.2 trillion reduction is hardly "on track". Over 10 years, that's only about 100 billion per year. It's actually much less than that, due to compounding. That's barely roundoff error.

[editor-surveyor]

Who wrote this, Obama?

One need only look at one single fact to know that the committee cannot succeed:

The debt ceiling increase guarantees that enough additional debt will be added that we will be unable to pay it off without inflating it away, Zimbabwe style.

One has to be utterly devoid of numeric skills to believe that they can succeed.

[SpaceBar]

The author is simply restating in different words what many already know: that dictatorships are more efficient in the short term than democracies/republics because there is no red tape, pesky compromises, or annoying opposition to wade through.

[M Kehoe]

Six Reasons the Supercommittee Will Succeed

Two Reasons it Won't Succeed

The committee is not super, or Constitutional.

The informed electorate (e.g. Tea Party) is watching BOTH parties. Trust me.

5.56mm

[ImpBill]

Mr. Weinstein is either seriously stoned or off his medications if he believes these 12 will do anything but protect "party" interests.

The day Washington politicians placed country before "political party" passed quite a while back. The bastards haven't breathed the same air as "we the people" for a long, long time.