Crunch time

It is getting close to the end of the line for the supercommittee.

On Nov. 23, the committee has to vote on a plan to submit to Congress. The committee's plan must cut the deficit by at least $1.2 trillion.

(I've harped on this before, but a reminder never hurt anyone)

The Washington Post put together a great graphic to illustrate what the committee has to do.

A month after that (after the bill has been submitted to Congress and the public) Congress — oh the lovable Congress — will then have to decide on the bill.

The catch here is that Congress can't amend the bill and the Senate can't filibuster anything. That takes away the two major strengths of both the House and the Senate. So it's either a yes or no vote.

There are a few places here that the bill can hit a snag. As I have mentioned before, it is possible the supercommittee won't agree on a damn thing and nothing will be submitted to Congress. The triggers will take effect and the federal offices and private companies with government contracts will have to deal.

 The bill also could get caught up in Congress. Remember, we have a Republican House of Representatives and a Democrat Senate. It only takes one group to shoot it down.

It is possible President Barack Obama could veto the bill if it makes it to his desk. That's a stretch though because if both houses agree on the cuts it would be political suicide for Obama to actually take a stance (one of the few times he would in his presidency) and kill the bill.

There is still a long road to go. If I was making any bets, I would bet the supercommittee fails to put anything together and it doesn't make it out of committee.

There will be more political positioning as both parties attempt to blame each other for the failure (I bet some of the committee members lost their seats in the following elections).

I hope I'm wrong. The country's financial infrastructure needs to be changed. I just don't think the people we have elected to do it have the capability.