The Fast Fix: Debt problem solved?

A deal on the debt ceiling is reached, but the economy is far from fixed.

A deal on the debt ceiling appears to have been made.

Not only does the compromise raise the country's borrowing limit into 2013, it also cuts spending by $1 trillion immediately and creates a committee tasked with cutting even more.

Assuming the current deal can win majorities in the House and Senate, here are three takeaways from the debt limit fight:

First, Republicans largely won. They got major spending cuts without having to give any ground on revenues or taxes. While raising the debt limit was always going to be a tough vote for many newly elected Republicans in the House, they got much more than most people thought they might in exchange.

Second, the next date to circle on your calendar in the debt fight is late fall when the committee created by this deal is required to report their recommendations for future cuts. Committees like these have a very mixed record of success in Washington, so there's skepticism that they can deliver on the cuts outlined in the deal.

Third, this protracted debate about the debt is a battle in a larger war over the country's fiscal future. We won't know who won until next November, but this fight has made it clear just how differently the two parties view the way forward for the economy.

Stay tuned. One crisis seems to have past. But ominous economic clouds continue to gather on the horizon.

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