The compromise will include some formula for revenue increases, (probably in the form eliminating deductions while reducing rates), it will include cuts to the military, and it will include deep meaningful and substantial cuts in spending in the overall budget. And the compromise will be agreed on the brink of default to no one’s satisfaction. In the meantime, we have six weeks of Kabuki theater to enjoy while the eventual compromise is hammered out. Both tribes will have ample opportunity to point at the feckless hypocrisy of the other. Enjoy the show.

For anyone interested in doing a deep dive into the state of the financial budget crisis facing the United States, you cannot do better than Mary Meeker’s recently released report “USA Inc.” Published under the auspices of venture capitalist Kleiner Perkins, it is detailed and comprehensive, yet clear, understandable and served up in digestible bites. It is well worth the time and effort.

In Madison, Wiscosnsin – the public sector unions have organized protests at the steps of the capitol to exercise their Democratic right to shut down the Democratic legislative process and subvert the Democratically expressed wishes of the Wisconsin electorate, in order to be sure that the union money flow to the Democratic Party is not interrupted.

Last week, in the Republican controlled House of Representatives, with Republican Speaker of the House John Boehner supporting the continued funding of the unneeded engine, it was finally defeated. Credit to President Obama, Defense Secretary Robert Gates for reaching out to Republican legislators and the new crop of Tea Party supported freshman Republican representatives who stood up to their own leadership.

President Obama is not going to get re-elected if he continues to treat American voters like they are complete idiots. He cannot tell us that a spending increase is really a spending cut, and that a massive new entitlement program will save money when it will actually cost money and expect to maintain any credibility.

He needs to outflank the Republicans on fiscal responsibility by supporting the bipartisan recommendations of the deficit commission he sponsored. If he puts the full weight of the Presidency behind the Simpson-Bowles Plan and pushes it to a floor debate, the American people would put their electoral weight behind him.

President Obama and his political brain trust were diligently taking notes while getting schooled in the midterms. On Monday President Obama announced a federal employee pay freeze for non-military employees. On Tuesday he met with congressional leadership and assured the American people that he heard the voice of the voters.

The Affordable Health Care for America Act is a bad piece of legislation that will have negative consequences for our economy and country and should never have become law. On that one point many liberals, conservatives and libertarians agree. Perhaps President Obama has simply fulfilled the campaign promise of a post-partisan political environment in Washington D.C. Due to his efforts, many Republicans, Democrats, Libertarians, Liberals and Conservatives are now united – in opposition to the BFD that is the Obama Health Care Reform hairball.

Yesterday, in a background briefing, the administration announced a three year spending freeze on portions of the budget. Since departments with the fastest growing government expenditures like Defense, VA, the State Department, and entitlements are excluded from the “freeze”, it will have a negligible effect on the ballooning deficit. One cannot help but wonder if the administration is trying to be all things to all people, and risks representing nothing to no one.

While Krugman is brimming with good tidings and bubbling over with holiday cheer, from the other side of the political spectrum Peter Schiff is offering a dour double dose of “Bah Humbug.”

First we heard about $100 million in cuts and now add another $17 billion to that total. The drops in the bucket are getting bigger. From Miami Herald: WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama plans to unveil Thursday a fiscal 2010 budget full of details on his plans to save as much as $17 billion by [...]

Barack Obama ran for president on a long list of program proposals, many of which addressed issues neglected (or perceived by liberals to be neglected) by George W. Bush. But with the financial turmoil and projected record deficits, will Obama have to scale back or abandon many of his planned initiatives? Here’s the problem with [...]

  Thanks to the powerful stand taken by two Democrats, Evan Bayh, a centrist after my own heart, and Russ Feingold, a staunch, principled liberal, both of whom will vote against the $410-billion spending bill as long as it contains 9,000 earmarks, the Senate leadership came up one vote short on moving the bill forward. [...]