Nov. 24 (Bloomberg) -- As you have no doubt heard by now,
the supercommittee failed. So did the Obama-Boehner negotiations
that preceded it, and the Biden-Cantor negotiations that
preceded that. Those efforts failed because the principals --
and the political bases they represent -- couldn’t come to an
agreement. What chance they did have was almost entirely because
of the staff scurrying in the background.
The idea that a handful of politicians, few of whom have
any formal background in economics or budget analysis, were the
ones doing the heavy policy lifting, is laughable. They’re in
the room to make the final decisions. In some cases, they’re
there to show that they and their party are taking the
negotiations seriously. It’s common to hear stories of bored
legislators tapping their feet through these sessions like
schoolchildren waiting to be released for recess.
