Balanced Budget Act

OK...I'll admit that saying the agreement will be gone by this Christmas is likely (but not necessarily) an overstatement.

But saying that the "Budget Control Act" -- the debt ceiling increase/deficit reduction deal signed into law on August 2 -- isn't likely to be in place on January 1, 2013, or to have it's projected impact over the full 10 years it supposed to be in effect is anything but an exaggeration. 

The reason? Federal budget agreements have seldom, if ever, gone the distance. Instead, they have always been changed, waived, ignored or abandoned long before they were scheduled to expire.