David Brooks, "Another Fiscal Flop": Here's Part of the Solution

As observed in David Brooks's latest New York Times op-ed entitled "Another Fiscal Flop" (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/01/opinion/brooks-another-fiscal-flop.html?_r=0), the fiscal cliff deal achieves next to nothing. Brooks writes:

"Public debt as a percentage of gross domestic product was around 38 percent in 1965. It is around 74 percent now. Debt could approach a ruinous 90 percent of G.D.P. in a decade and a cataclysmic 247 percent of G.D.P. 30 years from now, according to the Congressional Budget Office and JPMorgan.

. . . .

The country either doesn’t know or doesn’t care about the burdens we are placing on our children. No coalition of leaders has successfully confronted the voters, and made them heedful of the ruin they are bringing upon the nation."

Yet there are partial solutions, which go unmentioned by Brooks. Medicare fraud costs the US some $60 billion annually, and it would not be difficult to tackle this problem.

Computerized programs, adapted to standardized treatment for specific medical conditions, would have little difficulty pointing to anomalies. The system could be up and running in months.

In addition, penalties for Medicare fraud could be stiffened, causing those with thoughts of bilking the system to reconsider the consequences of their actions.

More savings? What about Obama's escalation of the inane war in Afghanistan, for which more than 2,000 US soldiers have sacrificed their lives and which is currently costing America some $6 billion per month?

Aggressively addressing Medicare fraud and ending the war in Afghanistan would bring combined savings in excess of $100 billion annually, and both parties could reach agreement on these action items. Why hasn't it happened until now? I don't have a clue.