As we have witnessed for weeks the US government has failed us. Our government is a product of the 19th and 
20th century. Much of what made it great during those centuries make it inadequate and dysfunctional in this century. After all the wrangling, name calling, threats, and each party stating that they knew what was best for us Americans we have a so called compromise that does nothing to decrease the debt, increase the number of jobs, simplify the tax code, and make mega corporations pay their fair share in taxes.
This can be better explained by reading the op/ed piece in today's St. Petersburg Times entitled Deal punts on jobs, causes of deficit. In this editorial the authors William L. Holahan and Charles O. Kroncke state:
"This seriously deficient plan does not address the causes of the deficit, which are: (1) tax rates, in effect since 2003, which are too low to yield a balanced budget even at full employment; (2) wars fought with borrowed money; (3) reduced tax revenue caused by the recession itself; and (4) recession-fighting expenditures for the relief of the unemployed and for job creation initiatives."