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September 9, 2010

Our View: Deficit commission is serious, meaningful

The Free Press

Cut Medicare benefits? How about Social Security? Cut defense spending in a world of terrorism? Borrow more money from the Chinese?

These are the tough questions elected leaders must face once the spark of the campaign flickers out. Fortunately, if they’re smart, they can pass the buck to some extent.

That’s because President Barack Obama by executive order set up the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, the so-called “deficit commission.”

The bipartisan commission has the job of recommending by Dec. 1 how to balance the budget by 2015. The commission also “shall propose recommendations that meaningfully improve the long-run fiscal outlook.” That must include changes to address the growth of entitlement spending like Medicare and Social Security.

The commission was set up in a way to relieve the pressure on members of Congress from having to vote against popular spending programs that benefit their constituents. It’s not the best way to run a democracy, but it might work, the theory being, members will be able to say they voted for what a bipartisan commission came up with.

We’ve tried everything else and it doesn’t seem to work, so the deficit commission is worth a try.

It may be something most Americans get bored with, but some important players in the world economy are taking note of what the commission recommends.

In fact, how Congress reacts to the commission’s recommendations may affect the credit standing and rating of the United States, according to John Chambers, an official with Standard & Poor’s who was quoted in the Concord Coalition’s Washington Budget report.

“It’s very important Congress take the required steps,” Chambers told the Dow Jones news wires last month.

Concord Coalition leaders note that members of Congress might not be excited about embracing the commission’s recommendations on raising taxes or cutting favorite programs, but the world investment community may be watching more closely.

In the end, those who invest in America and judge us by our willingness to get our fiscal house in order may have much more influence on our economic lives than Congress. Those investors and world bankers can adjust the interest rates on our debt, affect the value of our currency and generally create more fiscal havoc than we’ve created ourselves.

The deficit commission’s recommendations should be taken seriously by all members of Congress and acted upon.

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