I think the politics are such that our “leaders” won’t move to fix the problem until there is serious civil unrest. And we aren’t there yet. Because if they did try to do the right thing, the pain would be such that they’d be voted out of office.
People don’t like the deficit, but they like any concrete action to fix it even less. And, yes, that include FReepers too.
I think the politicians don’t want to try to fix the problem because they know civil unrest will be horrific and they might not come out of it in very good shape. So, what they’re doing is setting themselves and their families up in a secure and safe hiding place.