Alan Blinder, an economics professor at Princeton University, was a member of the Council of Economic Advisers under President Bill Clinton. Glenn Hubbard, dean of Columbia University’s Graduate School of Business, chaired the Council of Economic Advisers under President George W. Bush.

The smart money in Washington is betting that the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction — the so-called super committee — will fail because the two parties cannot find common ground. What a shame, because the common ground is there for the taking.

Bipartisan agreement can start with the recognition that the status quo won’t hold: The U.S. government’s deficit and the national debt are now on unsustainable paths.