[Wckcvhsg]

What both parties have agreed on with this is that we need large tax hikes.

Here's the budget, 3.7 trillion, the parties wrangle for a while, threaten to close down the government, and finally come up with cuts of 1% of the budget, except that the real cuts are 1% of that 1%.

Still think you are going to cut your way out of the deficit?

Oh, there are huge amounts that could be cut, that the Democrats would go along with, but that involves pork barrel spending in GOP districts, and the GOP talks that talk, but there's no way they are going to walk that walk.
And all the Democrats have done is to actually stick to their principles.

So if all that wailing and gnashing of teeth and predictions of Armageddon only produced cuts of 0.01%, what do you expect the 2012 budget to end looking like?

Consider this, election campaign 2012 is starting to ramp up, that means the GOP is dependent on corporate donations, from the companies that profit from government spending, it's one thing to blather on about TeaParty wacko ideas when your not asking people for money and votes, but when you are going to fund raisers, and shaking hands with with guys handing you envelopes with the money to finance your campaign, and telling you how vital ethanol is to the nation, are you really going to pick that moment to denounce ethanol as a waste that must be cut entirely from the budget.

When you are campaigning for the Florida vote and it's key electoral college votes, are you going to denounce Medicare and Social Security as an unsustainable giveaway Ponzi scheme?

We have seen the best opportunity to make serious cuts come and go, and the result is a 0.01% cut in actual spending.
And that's rounding up....