Paul Ryan's Budgetary Holy Grail

The truth is that the big money is in two federal programs: Social Security and Medicare. However, it is extremely rare to hear any of those concerned about federal spending target these programs for cuts. One reason is that Medicare alone covers about 45 million people, 22% of the voting-age population. Moreover, according to Census Bureau data, those over age 65--virtually all of whom qualify for Medicare--vote in the highest percentages of any age group. Consequently, any effort to reduce benefits for this population is going to confront strenuous opposition, which explains Republican pandering on Medicare during the health care debate.

Therefore, it is really heroic that Rep. Ryan did not shrink away from confronting head-on the necessity of slashing entitlements for the elderly in order to achieve his goal of abolishing the federal debt without an increase in the tax-to-GDP ratio.

 There is no political will in Congress to reduce spending, especially in the two largest programs - Social Security and Medicare - because the politicians would offend their largest voting bloc. They want to get re-elected, not cut spending and displease constituents. This makes Rep. Paul Ryan's proposal somewhat remarkable. Sadly though, we expect neither Republicans nor Democrats to support it.