Diane Lim Rogers: Public is ready to hear about the tough decisions
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Diane Lim Rogers: Public is ready to hear about the tough decisions
JEREMY HOBSON: Now to the “super” failure by the Congressional super committee to find $1.2 trillion in deficit savings over 10 years. The big ratings agencies don’t seem to mind that much — S&P and Moody’s say Washington’s inability to compromise will not lead to another downgrade of U.S. debt — right away anyway. But others are not taking the failure quite so calmly.
Here’s New York’s Mayor Michael Bloomberg:
Michael Bloomberg: The markets are coming apart, people have lost their jobs, they can’t find work. And in three and a half weeks, they couldn’t even bother to sit down together.
Well, we’re going to get more reaction now with Diane Lim Rogers, chief economist at the non-partisan budget advocacy group the Concord Coalition. She’s with us live from Washington. Good morning.
DIANE LIM ROGERS: Hi Jeremy.
HOBSON: Well, let me ask you — Washington is a place that often sees things a little differently than everyone else. How is this super committee failure playing inside the beltway this morning?
ROGERS: Well, I think there’s a lot of disappointment and I think on the part of the members of the super committee there’s embarrassment. But I think their failure was not a super surprise and I think that that’s what you’re seeing in terms, of it’s already been priced in to the market. We’ve seen this pattern before. The public is getting very familiar with it and I think we are making progress, at least in terms of public awareness of this issue.
HOBSON: What do you mean by that, how are we making progress?
ROGERS: I think that the public is getting tired of politicians assuming that they don’t want to hear about the tough choices. I think the public is very aware that tough choices are inevitable and they’re getting a little tired of not being told straight what needs to be done and the trade-offs involved in making those policy changes.
HOBSON: Diane Lim Rogers of the Concord Coalition, thanks so much for joining us.
ROGERS: Thank you.
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