NPR News

Time is short for the congressional supercommittee to find $1.2 trillion in deficit reductions, but the prospects of a deal are dim.

Several committee members hit the airwaves to say why the panel is on the verge of failure. Democrats insist the problem is Republicans' steadfast unwillingness to raise taxes on the wealthy. While Republicans, including Pennsylvania Sen. Pat Toomey, say Democrats aren't willing to make serious cuts to Medicare and Medicaid.

When apartheid ended in 1994, the new South African government laid out plans to achieve economic and social equality. A key goal was land reform. The government hoped to transfer 30 percent of white-owned farms to black ownership by 2014, but, as Anders Kelto reports, it's clear the government is nowhere near that goal.

The supercommittee, charged with cutting federal deficits by at least $1.2 trillion over the next decade, is down to the final days before its Nov. 23 deadline, and the group appears to be at an impasse. NPR's Tamara Keith and Mara Liasson talk with host Audie Cornish to explain both the economic and political consequences of supercommittee success or failure.

A chance for a Rhodes Scholarship, or the chance to battle your arch-rival football team? Yale quarterback Patrick Witt faced this agonizing choice; Audie Cornish has more.