In the absence of even mentioning tax reform in his State of the Union address, it may be presumptuous to assume a revenue-neutral AMT fix after 2007.

The current trend points to tax increases in the long run. The political will to make the difficult decisions on spending is lacking.

Mike Pence has done a fabulous job leading the Republican Study Committee. They have put out a realistic and credible and specific budget proposal to get spending under control when virtually no one else is talking about it.

There's so much investment capital out there for profitable new technologies. Investors are constantly looking for good ideas to invest in. If these ideas are as good as these companies say, they should have no problem, at minimum, finding a loan.

The fiscal situation will probably have to worsen and cause some economic pain before it becomes a priority.

Nearly all of their savings comes from this cut to total discretionary spending. That does nothing for the real long-term problem.