I'm reluctantly coming around to the idea that stalemate might be a good thing:
As Ezra Klein explains:
The “extended baseline scenario” means we let the Bush tax cuts expire, the spending sequester take effect, etc. The “alternative” scenario means we extend everything.
In the “extended baseline scenario,” which is the one currently written into law, we don’t have a debt problem, but we have much higher taxes and, in the short-term, a likely recession. In the “alternative” scenario, we’ve got a huge debt problem, but lower taxes and less short-term austerity.
We can only go on kicking the can down the road so long. So maybe we ought to just go ahead and take our medicine now.