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(AP) - GROUNDHOG DAY: House-Senate talks are barely touching the underlying causes of debt-and-spending stalemates that pushed the country close to economic crises in 2011, last December and again this month, making brinkmanship likely again, perhaps repeatedly.
SAME OLD: Republicans still oppose tax increases, while many Democrats and powerful interest groups oppose cuts in Social Security and Medicare benefits.
THE REAL CULPRITS: Americans are accustomed to relatively high levels of government service at relatively low levels of taxation, which makes it easier for powerful, well-financed groups to resist almost any change in government programs or taxes that favor them.
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