Today's Least Surprising Headline

Supercommittee at impasse as deadline nears

This was predictable from the moment the two sides announced their negotiating teams. The Republicans were all signatories to the "no new taxes" pledge, and the Democrats had all sworn not to vote for spending cuts unless taxes were raised.

It's a shame, really because the outlines of a "grand bargain" have been so obvious all year that a couple of high school students could work it out. Republicans accept Obama's tax plan, phasing out the Bush tax cuts for people with incomes over $250,000, and in return Democrats accept making the rest of the Bush tax cuts permanent and large spending cuts, including raising the retirement age. There, was that so hard?