Reuters:
The Republican and Democratic leaders of a 12-member congressional "super committee" are set to declare defeat in a joint statement to be released after three months of talks failed to bridge deep divides over taxes and spending.
After a year of bruising budget battles, it is another sign that lawmakers are too entrenched to compromise on the tax increases and benefit cuts that budget experts say are needed to set the country's finances on a stable path.
For all the talk about "failure," the super-committee actually succeeded—it avoided doing more damage to the economy than has been done already. The real failure is the process that created it, and our government's misguided focus on austerity since Republicans won the elections in 2010.