Beware the "Grand Bargain"

Beware the "Grand Bargain"

Barack Obama really does have a plan for the next four years. When he thought he was speaking off the record to the Des Moines Register the other day, he said he wanted to negotiate a "grand bargain" with the congressional Republicans. It would include spending reductions and tax increases to reduce forecasted federal deficits.

About the same time that the president was giving his interview, more than 80 CEOs of some of the nation’s largest companies were making a similar announcement. To get the country’s fiscal house in order, they said, we need both spending reductions and...