David Frum was on Marketplace last night with a commentary on the deficit. He said what we all know to be true, but politicians are too timid to do anything about. All of the deficit reduction proposals being promoted by the right and by the left are just diddling around the edges. If we ignore the 800 pound gorillas in the room, the deficit will just keep on growing. His suggestions (my paraphrasing) make a lot of sense to me:

1. Social Security: Slowly increase the retirement age to 70 and means test benefits.
2. Defense: Get out of Afghanistan and Iraq. Cut programs that the DoD admits aren't needed but politicians have been protecting because they are pork projects in their own districts.
3. Medicare/Medicaid: Radical reform that is not a mutant political compromise like Obamacare.

Saying that we should cut foreign aid, food stamps, and high speed rail may sound good to deficit hawks, but the savings are really just peanuts.