Looks like a 'gappy New Year' from here.
The deal just kick the can down the road. Can meets foot again fairly soon when the 'debt ceiling' discussions get underway, and the intractable issue of spending cuts and 'entitlement reform' hits the table once again.
The December precious metals smackdown has certainly faded away on schedule.
There will be no sustainable recovery without reform. Stagflation still seems to be the most likely outcome, within a continuing series of 'crises' and confrontations.
Roosevelt and Lincoln both faced similar problems, with equally unruly Congresses. This is nothing new. Hard problems call out for great leadership.
So far there is little to be seen. This is the age of the modern manager and the pampered princes of the professional elite. Even the 'party of the people' has largely abandoned them.
"Why has the Democratic Party become so arrogantly detached from ordinary Americans? Though they claim to speak for the poor and dispossessed, Democrats have increasingly become the party of an upper-middle-class professional elite, top-heavy with journalists, academics and lawyers."
Camille Paglia
