“The public has to be involved, educated, and understand the consequences of inaction. Legislators will not make difficult decisions unless their constituents see a need and reason to act,” writes G. William Hoagland.

“The projected shortfall of future Social Security revenues is the result of political action, not the absence of policy options for addressing this issue,” writes James Poterba.

“No party, or even individual member, has bragging rights when it comes to advocating for, or making progress on, reducing the deficit and debt,” writes Heidi Heitkamp.

“Inflation and interest rates will have important impacts on the long-term federal budget outlook,” write William G. Gale and Swati Joshi.

“The daunting demographic outlook points to a shrinking number of persons to support the tax base required for funding expanding annual federal budget deficits and mounting public debt,” write Dana M. Peterson and Lori Esposito Murray.