To fix the deficit, tax and cut

After a few weeks of posturing, House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) has finally agreed to increase tax rates on the highest-income Americans. Although his offer stopped almost half a trillion dollars short of President Obama's proposal, the mere fact that the GOP's top negotiator would support an increase in those rates at all brightens the prospects for a deficit-cutting deal by Jan. 1.

December 18, 2012