Left and Right Come Together

See Ronald Brownstein, at National Journal, "Coming Together":

Two iconoclastic new studies challenge the grim fatalism surrounding the congressional super committee charged with identifying the next steps toward taming the long-term federal debt.

The glum, growing consensus in Washington is that the super committee is more likely to perpetuate than resolve the parties’ stalemate over the deficit. The betting is that, with Republicans still rejecting any tax increases (even though federal revenues, as a share of the overall economy, now stand at their lowest level since 1950), Democrats won’t accept any meaningful restraints on entitlement spending (even though payments to individuals now consume more than three-fifths of the federal budget, squeezing all other liberal priorities). Conventional wisdom now assumes that the committee will offer just enough savings to avoid complete failure (which might further rattle spooked financial markets) but not enough to truly confront the long-term problem.

Yet the two recent studies from unusual left-right coalitions show the opportunity for greater boldness. In each report, groups that started with diametrical ideological views about the role of government coalesced behind reform programs that would substantially reduce the deficit by eliminating programs that are either ineffective or that unnecessarily subsidize special interests.
The agendas offered by these odd-couple alliances alone are not sufficient to stabilize the long-term budget—that can only be done by restraining entitlements and raising more revenue. But these plans show how austerity can enable reform: They underscore the opportunity to use the deficit challenge to rethink federal expenditures that are now justified by little more than the strength of the lobbies protecting them...

Interesting.

More at that top link.