Cowering Before the Deficit

The fiscal crisis provokes a lot of pointless posturing

On Capitol Hill last week, the ballooning federal deficit was being treated more as a conversation piece than an urgent problem. Despite a few genuine efforts to do what everyone knew had to be done—raise revenues and reduce spending—the week ended with a blizzard of babbling and fruitless finger-pointing between Congress and the White House that brought the Government once again to the brink of a breakdown. "I am not rinding any leadership at either end of Pennsylvania Avenue," said Democrat James Jones of Oklahoma, the chairman of the House Budget Committee.

Not until...