Has the American Budget War truly ended or is it just an armistice?

THE battles over the US budget between Democratic President Barack Obama and congressional Republicans that have dominated the legislative scene in Washington for close to eight years can be compared to a lousy television show that for some reason keeps coming back for new episodes and more seasons, until someone finally says: "Enough! Let us make a deal."

That moment may have come last week as Mr Obama started preparing for the last year of his presidency and against the backdrop of changes in the Republican leadership on Capitol Hill when the two sides struck a budget deal that would increase spending on domestic and defence programmes over the next two years while suspending the debt limit into 2017.

The development came as somewhat of an anti-climax to the budget fights of recent years that had taken the form of a classic "game of chicken" between the White House and the Republican leaders, with each side refusing to yield to the other's demands and threatening to drive the American economy over the cliff.