Economic Gurus On Super Committee: Go Big Or Go Home

President Obama’s congressional “super committee” is tasked with reducing the deficit by $1.5 trillion, but there are some who are arguing the committee should set a minimum goal of $4 trillion to effect change in the economy.  

National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform Chair Erskine Bowles, former White House budget chief Alice Rivlin, Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) and Honeywell CEO Dave Cote spoke at a New America Foundation forum and agreed that the committee should target a higher number than the $1.5 trillion assigned to it by President Obama. 

“Four trillion is, literally the minimum that we can do,” Crapo said. “It is not the ideal.” “[And] I think we need to do it twice or three times in the next decade… Gridlock is no longer an answer.”

The group of economic gurus called on the “super committee” to go big or go home, agreeing that Congress, despite the current political climate in Washington, are capable of reaching an agreement. 

“If the don’t go big, if they aren’t bold, if they aren’t smart, I think we face the most predictable economic crisis in history,” Bowles said. “If we do nothing… I think the future of our country is not very bright.” 

Crapo and Rivlin argued that the reason the committee must pursue savings in excess of $1.5 trillion is that this figure only represents the amount by which Congress increased the nation’s debt ceiling late this summer. 

“If they only do [1.5 trillion], then they really will have failed because the will not have stabilized the debt nor shown we can solve the long-run problem,” Rivlin said.  “And they won’t have done anything about the short-run either, The only way you do that is to go big.”