Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles are challenged with unrealities in handling the country's toughest economic truths.

Testimonyto the Trade Deficit Review Commission byJohn H. Makin.

In December 2010, the President's Fiscal Commission failed to garner the necessary supermajority to pass its plan to reduce the deficit. Now, with the super committee, starting work on its effort to propose $1.5 trillion in deficit reductions, some have speculated that history is about to repeat itself. However, a closer examination reveals a night-and-day difference.

The debate in Washington about reducing America's deficit is gathering steam and there are increasing calls to make deep cuts in the defense budget.

On trade, President Obama has only moved the country to where it was in mid-2007. On the deficit, he has moved the country backwards.

A fiscal commission set to report after the next election with recommendations that are purely advisory seems designed to fail.

Because of massive, sustained budget deficits by several eurozone countries, some could default on their sovereign debt obligations, or the euro itself might disintegrate, profoundly affecting the EU’s political and economic future. Very little media attention, however, is focused on a very different, but even more important, EU problem, namely its “democratic deficit.”

When it comes to getting the deal done, it's very difficult to go around the presidency, and it's very easy for the president to declare victory even after a failure. Obama may not be bringing much to the table, but it remains his table--because it came with the office.