The only reason people are as concerned as they are about the federal deficit is because most people have already concluded that there will be no meaningful spe

The only reason people are as concerned as they are about the federal deficit is because most people have already concluded that there will be no meaningful spending cuts. There can't be. Neither party has enough power to force anything truly distasteful to the other's ideology down their throat. The biggest drain on our country is defense spending. But the Republican Party will not allow defense spending to be cut. Medicare is off the table because it is part of health care reform recently passed by the democrats, and because the GOP's base is proportionally uninformed elderly boomers who are about to receive S.S. You can't have a conversation at a legislative level about what roles that government should and shouldn't perform. Until we agree on that, spending cuts of any meaningful kind are not going to happen. The only way out, then, is to increase government revenue, which implies more taxes.