Americans Would Reduce the Deficit By…

Greg Sargent makes an interesting point (link):

What if the American people declared that they think the best way to fix the deficit is to cut defense spending and hike taxes on the rich, and no high level politician in either party cared?

Dan Froomkin argues (link):

While the details vary, the White House and Republican leaders both basically want to reduce the deficit by cutting social programs, preserving defense spending and raising taxes relatively little or not at all.

As Matt Miller points out, "deficit hawk" Paul Ryan's plan, for example, doesn't balance the budget until the 2060s and adds tens of trillions of dollars to the debt between now and then (link).  Why?  Because he wants to make spending cuts while keeping taxes at a historically-low percentage of GDP while the boomers are turning into geezers.

It's going to take a combination of spending cuts and tax increases to take care of the deficit.  Tea Partyers can recite their "The government doesn't have a revenue problem. It has a spending problem." mantra ad nauseum, but it's not reality.  Sooner or later we have to face reality.