Bill Frenzel: Super committee can't tackle real debt problem

In a commentary for CNN, CRFB co-chair Bill Frenzel lamented the small goal that the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction (or the "super committee") is aiming for, arguing that it will not lead to the kind of grand compromise that we need.

Because the goal of $1.2 trillion in savings is so small, he said, even if the committee succeeds, it will not do much to stem the tide of red ink or address the drivers of our long-term debt.

Until the major drivers of deficits and debt are one the table -- entitlements -- the Congress will be playing touch football with the deficit/debt problem. Democrats protect entitlements; Republicans protect taxes. Difficult compromises are required, but the super committee, unfortunately, does not have this kind of heavy lifting in its charter.

Even assuming super committee success, the net of all this is that our president and our Congress will have spent a year at hard labor working on modest reductions, none of them aimed at the real drivers of our deficits and debt.

Click here to read the full commentary.

 "My Views" are works published by members of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, but they do not necessarily reflect the views of all members of the committee.