The Nuts And Bolts Of The Debt Deal

Jacki Lyden in for Tom Ashbrook

Sifting through the details . What does it mean for the American way of life?

A debt deal is delivered, default averted, and the rhetoric may get dialed back. A bit.

Unpacking the deal after the political mash up in Washington is akin to being on a treasure hunt for pennies. The tight restrictions and eliminations placed on an anemic economy are, by many predictors, going to make life harder— but for whom?

$2.4 trillion in cuts --- a down payment on the debt-- could mean recession for the Average Joe and Jane. The Super Committee of 12 legislators being set up has an unclear amount of authority.

This hour On Point: the way forward.
-Jacki Lyden
Guests:

Major Garrett, congressional correspondent for National Journal.

Steve Bell, senior director of the Economic Policy Project at the Bipartisan Policy Center.

Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, DC.

From The Reading List:

ABC News: "While the United States may avert a default on its sovereign debt, the actual deal has yet to be approved and the spending cuts in the deficit reduction proposal are yet to be determined. The Congressional Budget Office said the tentative agreement, which the House approved Monday night, could cut $1.2 trillion over 10 years from the federal budget. "