Tom Perriello on Balanced Budgets, "No More Bailouts"

I'm all for balanced budgets. In fact, as I recall, the last time we had one of those was under a Democratic President, a guy named Bill Clinton. :) Having said that, it's also imperative right now that we invest in our nation's long-neglected infrastructure -- health care, energy, transportation, education, etc.. To make those huge investments at a time of recession while simultaneously turning budget deficits into surpluses is going to require difficult political choices, particularly with regard to the major entitlement programs, Medicare and Social Security. I'm a bit skeptical, however, that these hard choices will actually be made. I mean, there's a reason why entitlements have come to be known as the high-voltage "third rail" of American politics - touch that rail and you're dead, politically. The question is, can we lower the voltage on that rail enough so that we can touch it and live to tell about it? We may find out in the next year or so...