A glimmer of hope on the deficit

If the Bowles-Simpson commission deficit reduction plan is dead, somebody evidently forgot to tell Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson. Their proposal to reduce the deficit by $4 trillion over the next decade fell one vote short of the majority needed to force congressional action, and President Barack Obama, though saying nice things about the effort, didn't pick up the plan and sell it to the American people. But now, nearly two years later and on the eve of a presidential election, the framework Messrs. Bowles and Simpson developed is showing new signs of life.

October 26, 2012