The editors of *National Review:*
> Conservatives have every reason to be dismayed by [the current economic] picture, and to seek to change it. It would be a mistake, however, to regard the fiscal-cliff deal that has just passed Congress as an important cause of these destructive trends. The deal actually makes federal budget policy slightly less disastrous.
> …
> Conservatives have every reason to be dismayed by this picture, and to seek to change it. It would be a mistake, however, to regard the fiscal-cliff deal that has just passed Congress as an important cause of these destructive trends. The deal actually makes federal budget policy slightly less disastrous.
It is difficult to analyze the deal without simply thinking “America lost.” I hope the *National Review* editors are right and this is not as bad a deal as it seems at the outset.