Debt deal: Big issues kicked

Leaders Agree on Debt Deal - Plan to Cut $2.4 Trillion in Spending, Avoid Default Fails to Resolve Fraught Issues

Excerpt:

For all the down-to-the wire drama, the deal leaves the hardest questions unanswered and sets in motion years of fiscal pain. It imposes spending caps for the next 10 years, but leaves the details of what programs would be cut to congressional committees.

And it launches a ferocious, months-long argument over how to rewrite the tax code and what changes to make in popular programs like Social Security and Medicare—issues that were ultimately shelved in this debate.

So while one uncertainty would be lifted from the economy with the increase in the debt ceiling, others would be prolonged.

Comment: Findings of the Bowles-Simpson commission should be considered