After Bin Laden: Mission Not Accomplished on the Economy

A few important stories from the past days on the economy:

Remember, Bin Laden's strategy was to provoke us into beating ourselves, mainly by going bankrupt. We're not broke, but the strategy worked against the Soviets.

Speaking of beating ourselves by racking up debt, Lori Montgomery points out that it all began with a "choice, not a crisis" -

The biggest culprit, by far, has been an erosion of tax revenue triggered largely by two recessions and multiple rounds of tax cuts. Together, the economy and the tax bills enacted under former president George W. Bush, and to a lesser extent by President Obama, wiped out $6.3 trillion in anticipated revenue. That's nearly half of the $12.7 trillion swing from projected surpluses to real debt. Federal tax collections now stand at their lowest level as a percentage of the economy in 60 years.

David Leonhardt writes that the mission is nowhere near accomplished on the economy. He lays out a sensible and obvious path, but one that has eluded Congress so far:

The sensible step for Congress would be to pair long-term deficit reduction with a mix of short-term tax cuts and aid to states, whose budget cuts are leading to layoffs. But Congress hasn't shown itself capable of separating the short term and long term. So the odds of new legislation to help the economy anytime soon are roughly nil.

The Gang of Six's efforts to curb medium and long term deficits have "stalled."

Vice President Biden is meeting with Congressional negotiators to discuss the debt, but Republicans want numbers first.

And the United States is has an inequality problem, but inequality has been on the rise throughout the developed world: