Obama's Deficit Panel Marginalized by .. Obama

President Obama house been touting his intent to put together an executive panel to review approaches to trim the soon to be $14 trillion federal debt.  His newest addition to the panel demonstrates that the President is not serious about doing much of anything on the deficit.

Obama recently appointed the leader of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), Andy Stern, to the Commission on Fiscal responsibility and Reform.  One of the largest expenses in government is the federal payroll.  Recent news reports have demonstrated that Federal employees are already compensated at higher levels than their private company counter-parts.  Stern’s interest would be in increasing wages and benefits for precisely that group of people.  This is a conflict of interest and more-than-likely an attempt to buy Stern’s continued support during the upcoming Congressional and Presidential elections – both of which are looking stark for progressive Democrats.