The need for deficit reduction

Politically, you could probably classify me as more of a liberal than not, and that's why I find it surprising that my fellow "liberals" are supposedly saying "not in my lifetime" when it comes to the subject of draft report issued earlier in the week by the bipartisan deficit reduction committee. I can imagine the Tea Party folks being against it -- they are against everything, even if it is something aimed at accomplishing their goal to drive down the deficit. The Tea Party folks live in this cloudy world of unreality in which they think spending cuts are the only alternative, but then no one has ever accused Tea Party members of anything remotely resembling intelligence.

I'll admit, the report needs to be thrashed out, but to dismiss it out of hand is ridiculous. Anyone who is serious about reducing the deficit needs to put all the possible alternatives on the table. There is absolutely no way the deficit can be reduced without a combination of tax increases and spending cuts. And nothing should be exempt from the discussion and that includes such sacred cows as Medicare, Social Security,defense spending and eliminating the Bush tax breaks for the wealthiest 2 percent of our population which, alone, will reduce the deficit by $40 billion next year alone. And the Medicare and Social Security cuts recommended by the draft report still protect those most vulnerable, especially those receiving those benefits now.

The solution to the problem of the deficit is going to be a painful one for everyone, regardless of what side of the political fence you're on and the sooner the politicians in Washington face that reality, the better we will all be. And one politician in particular needs to step up right away. Without the backing of the President, the report probably will never make it to Congress for the much-needed debate. The White House must assume a leadership role in this immediately or else we will find ourselves in an even deeper deficit mess.