A Deficit Debate Is Just What America Needs: Matthew Yglesias

With unemployment low, inflation high and interest rates on the rise, the time is right to bring back an old idea: bipartisan talks to reduce the federal budget deficit.

I know: Try to contain your excitement. But it wasn’t so long ago — about a decade — that the US was consumed by a mania for deficit reduction. From the Simpson-Bowles Commission to the so-called Supercommittee, from sequestration to the fiscal cliff, the topic was unavoidable.

Republicans wanted sweeping cuts to government spending. Then-President Barack Obama was willing to meet them halfway, but only if they would join ...