The devil is in the details. It always is. And many of the details have not

[cali]

been worked out but here's a glimpse at the coming landscape. You will not find it reassuring:

<snip>

If the committee's recommendations are not enacted in legislation by Jan. 15, 2012, $1.2 trillion in cuts will automatically go into effect by 2013. Those cuts would be divided equally between defense and non-defense programs, including both discretionary and direct spending.

Should the super committee not be able to agree on sufficient cuts, the impact on the Pentagon and Medicare will be severe, ABC News' Jake Tapper reported.

<snip>

2.
Social Security
While Social Security spending is protected by law, it may not be untouchable to the super committee. Any guess how much savings could be wrung from Social Security, long famed as being the "third rail" of American politics (and thus off-limits to cutters), would be speculative.

Still, an expert with a leading consumer advocacy group in Washington, D.C. (one that asks that its name not be used) says a stealthy form of cutting has been and remains under consideration, and could presumably be used by the committee: changing the way the government calculates the cost of living. The number affects the size of the checks Social Security sends out.

<snip>

much more at:

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/us-debt-deal-top-ways-cuts-affect/story?id=14205747#2

[SidDithers]

1. Good to see you back...nt

Sid

[Warren Stupidity]

2. The trigger is idiocy.

Consider a scenario where we have plunged back into a deep recession and these mandatory, economically depressive, cuts go into effect. Putting the government's macro-economic policy on auto-pilot is insane.

What we are witnessing is the collapse of the legislative branch, which branch just lopped off almost all of its voting members, reducing itself to an appointed 12 person rump legislature that will now control the finances of the nation.

[KharmaTrain]

3. This Was A Punt...

From the little I've read that seems reliable, as you say, the devil are in the details and, more importantly, the results of next year's elections.

The rushpublicans feel they not only can take control of the Senate but also that President Obama is vulnerable and if they keep on pushing...creating "crisis" and keeping him on the defensive that this will turn him into the next "Carter"...portrayed as ineffective and weak. And they'll get assists from some on this side of the sandbox whose expectations never matched up to what was possible.

This Administration hopes that it may have lost a battle but won the war with "moderates" and "independents" and can rally the base next year with the fear of rushpublican majorities destroying entitlements and more tax breaks for the rich. Can they put these messages on bumper stickers and repeat them enough to counter all the right wing noise? Or has the stench of this process turned more off that may not be turned on next year. It's getting to be too much 16-dimesnsional chess for me.

Cheers...

[HereSince1628]

4. 'keeping our options open' is no longer an option

because they are throwing options away.

Demanding cuts be made or getting automatic cuts is simply a guarantee for austerity policy.

It precludes solutions that involve the federal government creating demand to lift the economy.

Austerity breeds nothing but austerity, it's a bad thing...unless you are buying assets at the bankruptcy auction.

[Auntie Bush]

5. They better not touch SS and freeze the COLA

I can barely pay my bills now and if they freeze COLAs in the future and prices keep going up...I'll never make it. Food, gas & oil etc. have all gone up and I'm already getting $37 less per month than I did last year. Medicare will cost more too, so I'll take another hit. Their will be millions of people thrown into poverty and welfare. Pray tell...how does that help our economy?

Sometimes I'm glad I'm old and won't be around that long to see what's happening to our country...but I feel for my children and grandchildren.

[joshcryer]

6. Well, Obama originally planned to reform Medicare, so much of those reforms will be heard.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/04/13/fact-sheet-presidents-framework-shared-prosperity-and-shared-fiscal-resp

The question is more whether or not the Gang of 12 has some good, smart, wise people on it on the Democratic side who are not going to budge easily on issues. I hope Reid and Pelosi pick strong people to be on that committee, otherwise we are definitely fucked.