One absurdity of the Obama era is that both sides have professed to care about stuff according to the framework set up by the Washington Post editorial board. The whole "give us a bit of revenue enhancers in exchange for chained CPI" thing isn't actually a grand bargain that either Democrats or Republicans give a shit about. That's why it failed. Dems probably would have taken the deal, because they want to be "adults" and make Fred Hiatt happy, but the exchange really doesn't reflect the priorities of either party. Or, at least, what those priorities should be. Republicans don't care about reducing Social Security benefits. They want to steal it or destroy it, but chained CPI wouldn't be a "win" for them except to the extent that they could hang it around the necks of Dems.
Ryan's proposal (linked below) is good because it really is a tradeoff between what should be the priorities of the parties. The Republicans want to cut taxes for rich people. Dems want to spend money on nice things. Both would be stimulus (though the former would be crap stimulus). That's a grand bargain we can all believe in.
I get that my fantasy Dem party isn't quite real. They do love making Fred Hiatt happy more than they like spending money on nice things. But they should be willing to spend money on nice things.
