The Big Question  How Can Washington Help Business Create Jobs?
Al Hunt: To improve the economy and help create more jobs,
Washington needs to walk and chew gum at the same time. That
means providing short-term stimulus while also shaping a long-
term deficit reduction package.  Both are likely to fall victim
to the part-political, part-ideological, and persistently petty
environment that has enveloped Washington. Yet a comprehensive
deal could work, and it could even help both political parties.
We should start with a two-year, $1 trillion stimulus: some
temporary tax cuts, such as extending the payroll tax holiday to
spur hiring, and some smart investments in infrastructure and
financial assistance to states so they can avoid laying off
teachers and cops. This would be farther-reaching than what
President Barack Obama proposed on Sept. 8.  Any stimulus will
have to be accompanied by a $4 trillion-plus deficit reduction
starting in 2014, when the economy will—presumably—be chugging
again. A small slice of th