Cultural Unwillingness to Pay for the Government Services We Collectively Demand

At a party earlier tonight, the conversation turned to the U.S. economy - with great criticism of budget deficits and public debt. The debate was intense, but nobody was willing to specify the $1.4 trillion cuts in government spending or tax increases that would be necessary to eliminate the projected deficit for 2010. Thus, the essence of the problem is a cultural unwillingness to pay for the government services we collectively demand.