Despite getting very close to a deal, the US Senate's ‘super committee' tasked with finding a way to match Democrat plans for government with Republican desire to reduce taxes has almost totally collapsed. This irresponsible failure means that not only will the American government suffer badly, but the rest of the world has to endure the dollar becoming less secure and therefore falling in value. The committee has a responsibility to find an answer, as the finances of the world's largest nation cannot be allowed to drift into total confusion.
The high point of the super committee's work came on November 7, when Republican Pat Toomey offered a possible compromise, which would limit tax deductions. This was built on by John Kerry who suggested the concept of means-testing Medicare.
But within two days, a stream of leaks engendered bitter recrimination and a complete lack of trust, which fuelled the already deep differences as Democrats came to believe that the Republicans only wanted to use the super committee to cut taxes, not the deficit.
And the Republicans were exasperated with Democratic refusal to consider any meaningful cuts to welfare programmes including Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. As they are, these three programmes are set to use 100 per cent of all federal tax income by 2047.
