How to fix the long-run budget deficit in six easy steps

Given that bond purchasers are literally paying the federal government for the privilege of giving us their money for the next 10 years, it's hard to justify the amount of attention that the budget deficit has received from policymakers in the short-term. But most analysts think we're probably going to need to start paring back our debt load in the next decade or so. With U.S. debt now near 70 percent of GDP (and topping 100 percent of GDP when Social Security and other trust fund obligations ar...