Grand Bargain Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) gave the first public signal of where the current crisis in Washington is headed – toward the grand bargain. As with trade negotiations or business transactions, deals are more easily done when it is a single undertaking with a myriad of complex and important details. Funding the government and avoiding default are unavoidable. Meanwhile, the President says the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations will be completed by year's end, but in truth he needs trade promotion authority first. Everyone agrees there needs to be tax reform, and entitlement reform would give markets long-term comfort. Senator Reid hopes for more revenues for the government, which is anathema to the...

TAGS – Asia, North America