The Washington Post

The president's concern about fiscal child abuse is well placed. But the chasm separating Social Security's future benefit commitments and its future payroll tax receipts is just a part of the story. There is a much larger fiscal gap separating total projected federal expenditures (including debt service) and total projected federal taxes. The size of this red hole was calculated by Treasury officials two years ago at $45 trillion. Their current estimate is $6 trillion larger thanks to the president's 2003 tax cut and the new Medicare prescription drug benefit.