But even in a best-case scenario, this approach only buys time.

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Even the best scenario means she has to approach the children hat in hand.

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For context, the Congressional Budget Office figures that under the most likely fiscal scenario, the debt will approach 90 percent of GDP by 2022.

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On the other hand, however, in an era where doing nothing is an optimistic scenario, the can-kicking approach to fiscal policy can be a misleading panacea, as it avoids addressing the issues that postponement causes.

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But in the current scenario, it is likely to proceed with a more measured approach.

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The authors blame "cookbook medicine, " a fixed approach to diagnosis that focuses on a patient's chief complaint and ruling out the worse-case scenario.

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