Editorial: Congress failing to stop next recession

There's not only another recession on the horizon, but your U.S. Congress is helping put it there.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office predicted recently that continued inaction on tax and spending policy by Congress "would lead to economic conditions in 2013 that will probably be considered a recession."

Bush-era tax rates are set to expire next year, raising taxes on millions of Americans. Meanwhile, Congress, in the hopes that a deadline would inspire it to actually cut federal spending thoughtfully, set up a system of blunt and potentially very damaging automatic across-the-board spending cuts that take effect in January.

The combination of tax increases and spending cuts, writes The Associated Press, would mean "in effect sucking roughly $400 billion out of a U.S. economy that is already struggling."

All this happens unless Congress takes action.

Economic experts say the uncertainty of it all is helping tamp down economic activity now.

Don't bank on anything getting done before the election, either. While both parties are to blame for the mess we're in ... the truth is, neither party has covered itself in glory in this disgraceful episode.

What we are seeing today must be particularly galling to the remaining veterans of World War II, who gave us the best years of their lives to defeat tyranny on two ends of the globe. That our "leaders" in Washington can't muster the mere mettle to balance our budget, or even talk with each other in a rational way to avoid what some are calling "Taxmageddon" next year, is an insult to the men and women who once made this the greatest nation on Earth.

Shame on all of those responsible.