America's Outlook is Grim?

Well, so says The Economist, "Time for a double dip?"

America’s recovery from a balance-sheet recession was always bound to be sluggish and fragile. And its woes need not fell the world economy, thanks to the strength of emerging markets (see Economics focus). But the thoughtlessness of the debt deal—notably its failure to tackle any of the real sources of America’s fiscal problems, such as entitlement spending—raises a bigger worry. Can the country’s politicians, so starkly polarised and so willing to gamble with the economy, be trusted not to turn what was always an inevitable period of hardship into longer-term stagnation?

Democrats won't go for entitlement reform. Be sure to read Fred Barnes' essay, "The Debt Deal and the Agony of Nancy Pelosi."