You Fix the Budget and conserve the nation

President Obama’s bipartisan committee is hard at work on solutions to slash the federal debt. Cutting federal pay and benefits, Bush tax cuts, reducing foreign aid and cutting Social Security are all items on the table. "You Fix the Budget," says the NY Times to its readers, which is quite novel. "You Fix the Budget," claims the Times – because Washington will be at it for years to come.

Hearing that ‘you Fix the Budget’ while still in ‘Age of Austerity’

The Times' "You Fix the Budget" puzzle is something that they are doing to help see people can help with Cutting the deficit. The federal debt will lead the government right into an "Age of Austerity." Politicians all know this. Readers can make the tough decisions without pressure from lobbyists or fear of alienating a constituency. The austerity between the politicians and New York Times readers is being measured here. Will they match?

By 2015, the debt could be $400 billion too big

Economists anticipate a federal debt in 2015 that could be $400 billion more than can be reasonably sustained. One year's economic growth pay's for the previous year's shortfall. This means small deficits will effortlessly run forever.

We are far too past that level. This is shown in just the expected $400 billion. In 2015, that could be greater than 2 percent of the nation's output while counting for more than half the Medicare Budget and half the Pentagon's annual Budget. There is some good news still, the Times explains. $400 billion is not that big of a deal when considering Greece and Ireland and the deficits they face. The United States federal deficit from 1990 to 1994 was larger than that. It is not that bad.

Politically extremely hard to cut the deficit

Whatever the NY Times readers say about how much taxes ought to rise and the way much spending ought to be slashed will "probably be something that isn’t politically feasible now." This is what William Gale of Brookings Institution thinks. Politicians who have actual plans about cutting the deficit are not voted in as often as those who generally talk over it.

Citations

NY Times

nytimes.com/2010/11/14/weekinreview/14leonhardt.html?_r=1

NY Times

nytimes.com/interactive/2010/11/13/weekinreview/deficits-graphic.html