FederalDeficit

China's economy, the turbocharged engine of world growth, is starting to sputter. From a competitive standpoint, that may feel like good news, but what happens in Beijing doesn't stay in Beijing: The U.S. economy is inextricably linked to China's.

Almost everyone agrees the federal deficit is a ticking bomb, but when it comes to ideas for solving the problem, some are contradictory and all are controversial. No wonder: If you look at where the money actually goes, it's easy to see why it's so hard to balance the budget.

Nobody enjoys paying taxes, so hearing that Congress is cutting the IRS budget might inspire you to applaud. But this is the agency that makes sure the rest of government gets funded, and stops the unscrupulous from dodging their fair share of the burden.

Try not to choke on your coffee, but the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projected that the Obama administration policies would dump $9.7 trillion onto the national debt by 2020. The projected national debt by 2020, according to the CBO, would top $20.3 trillion. Yeah, that's a lot....