The Truth about the Deal Being Worked Out in the Senate

From WSJ:

The last-minute tax and spending deal being discussed in the Senate would do little to reduce the deficit, and could actually expand it[...]This weekend, with talks moving closer to the deadline, the only item being discussed that would reduce the deficit is a White House proposal to let the Bush-era tax cuts expire for upper-income households. White House officials believe raising tax rates on income above $250,000, combined with changes in capital-gains, dividend, and estate-tax rules, would raise roughly $950 billion over 10 years.

The WSJ piece fails to note that it appears that any deal will also result in an increase in the payroll tax by 2%, which will hit almost everyone taking home regular paychecks. Happy New Year.

WSJ does subtly point out that Social Security recipients will also get whacked:

$200 billion in savings [will come] from changing the government's measure of inflation, among other things.

Among the items that would increase spending:

One would extend emergency unemployment benefits for one year, at a cost of roughly $30 billion. Another would prevent Medicare payments to doctors from being cut close to 27%. This change would cost another $10 billion, according to estimates.

And tax increases (aside from the increase in the payroll tax) would raise only between $50 billion and $60 billion in new revenue in its first year, less than 10% of the projected budget deficit.