The Super Committee! 100 Days To Save The World From Armageddon.

WE could perhaps "incentivize" them. Whatd I do with my rope?

Ethan Harris, co-head of global economics research at Bank of America, wrote this week that “Given the scale of the debt problem, a credible plan requires both revenue enhancement measures and entitlement reform. Washington’s recent debt deal did not include either.”

That is a common assessment, which may explain why Representative Eric Cantor, the House majority leader, was defensive about Republicans’ antitax absolutism in a memo to his colleagues on Monday.

”Over the next several months, there will be tremendous pressure on Congress to prove that S.& P.’s analysis of the inability of the political parties to bridge our differences is wrong. In short, there will be pressure to compromise on tax increases,” Mr. Cantor wrote.

But, he added, “We were not elected to raise taxes or take more money out of the pockets of hardworking families and business people.”

Republican presidential candidates share that fervor: in their Iowa debate Thursday night, all eight participants raised their hands when asked who would reject a long-term debt reduction package that had $10 in spending cuts for every $1 in revenue increases. More

Senate Democrats on the supercommittee say the group needs to include stimulus for the economy in the deficit-reduction plan it has been tasked with producing by Thanksgiving.

The three Senate Democrats serving on the 12-member deficit supercommittee outlined their approach to the talks in a Wall Street Journal op-ed published Wednesday.

Supercommittee Co-Chairwoman Patty Murray (Wash.) and Sens. Max Baucus (Mont.) and John Kerry (Mass.) said the supercommittee needs to make jobs a top priority.

“We know that our goal is to reduce spending. But we also know that America faces not just a budget deficit but also a jobs deficit. Nobody on this committee would be happy if we reduced the budget deficit but even more Americans end up losing their jobs,” Murray, Baucus and Kerry wrote in the op-ed. Source

To help reduce uncertainty, Cantor is moving to quell rank-and-file grumbling about 2012 spending and the supercommittee.

He said full-year 2012 spending bills should be enacted at the spending levels agreed to in the debt ceiling deal.

That deal set next year’s spending at $1.043 trillion but some more conservative members were still wishing for deeper cuts next year.

Agreeing to proceed with appropriations at the set level would help avoid a spending fight that could shut the government down after Sept. 30, cantor said. He is also making clear he wants full-year bills enacted, rather than an omnibus package or continuing resolution.

“While all of us would like to have seen a lower discretionary appropriations ceiling for the upcoming fiscal year, the debt limit agreement did set a level of spending that is a real cut from the current year level. I believe it is in our interest to enact into law full-year appropriations bills at this new lower level,” Cantor writes.

Cantor is also urging his members to support the deficit reduction supercommittee created by the debt deal, adding that the supercommittee must succeed in coming up with “at least” $1.5 trillion in deficit cuts, rather than allowing automatic cuts to be triggered.

“I have heard some assert that certain sectors would be better off under the sequester. I believe this is false and would unnecessarily induce more uncertainty and a worse policy outcome,” he said. Source

It Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time..