MY VIEW: Erskine Bowles March 23 2012

In a blog post entitled "Don't Let the Perfect Be the Enemy of the Good" on the Committee for Economic Development's new blog Back in the Black, Fiscal Commission co-chair Erskine Bowles states that shared sacrifice will have to be an integral part of any budget plan. Both political parties will have to give ground and citizens across the country will need to give up some things they like to get it done. As he says:

The problem in finding a solution to these deficits has rarely been with the economics, it has been with the politics. Most political leaders know what needs to be done; they just have not been able to summon the collective political will to do it. Any serious bipartisan proposal to deal with the deficit will be savaged by special interests and the defenders of partisan purity on the left and the right. If we in the private sector of the economy allow members of Congress to think that doing nothing is OK, then that’s exactly what they’ll do. All of us in the private sector must put aside our individual wish lists and think about what’s really important for our country. If we’re unwilling to do that, then future generations, and I believe our own generation, are going to be in a world of hurt.

Click here to read the full blog post.

"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.