In an extremely cogent analysis of the Catfood Commission II and its membership as announced so far, Ari Berman
nails the major problem with the whole idea.
The super-committee itself is a profoundly conservative and anti-Democratic entity, immune from public pressure and tasked with deciding between two bad choices—a so-called grand bargain that would significantly reduce the social safety net vs. deep across the board cuts at a time of economic peril. The idea of doing anything to stimulate the economy is totally absent from its purview. The scope of the committee itself, rather than who's on it, is the real problem.
The idea of transparency for the commission is at least getting some lip service from both sides. That'd be a small start toward making it a little less isolated from public pressure, a little more accountable.
But as Berman says, that's just a fraction of the problem with this whole debacle. The real problem is that this committee has nothing to do with fixing our struggling economy, with creating jobs, with creating confidence. It's all about the pain. And that's the last thin the country needs right now.
Yes, it's still the economy, stupid. Let's try talking about jobs.