This country’s fiscal outlook is bleak. Unless large entitlement programs can be addressed effectively, our long term debt will continue to increase. If, however, Washington can agree to—and actually implement—a credible budget deal, it will bolster market credibility by reducing the threat of increasing taxes, inflation, the squeezing out of all discretionary programs by entitlement spending, and the collapse of the nation’s safety net programs under their own weight. A serious, credible budget deal is the only path to ensure the nation’s debt burden doesn’t crowd out sustainable economic and job growth.