In December 2011, 1.3 million Americans received SSI disability payments for “mood disorders”. Yes, that’s right, more Americans then the entire population of San Diego received a monthly check from Uncle Sam to compensate for their suffering from such psychic maladies as sleep disturbance, appetite disturbance, decreased energy and feelings of guilt or worthlessness. How can that be in a nation in which 40% of all federal expenditures are borrowed, where national debt (nevermind future obligations) is about the level of the GDP, where we are going off the fiscal cliff soon if we don’t get our house in order? It’s beyond irrational, yet pundits and the takers want us to believe that there is immense “pain” inherent in cutting the federal budget anywhere. Pure hokum. Government spending is larded with things we don’t need and that we would actually be better off without. Take business subsidies for everything from high-tech companies to “green energy” boondoggles to luxury car dealerships in Eastern Europe for Obama pals (yes, you can look it up). Take defense expenditures based on the congressional district they’re in and for that matter the obviously no-win wars we insist on fighting around the globe. Farm subsidies, especially ethanol. Bloated public employee pay. Energy subsidies of all kinds. Thousands of Department of Education employees that do what exactly. The war on marijuana. There’s a lot of low hanging fruit out there that taken together would help a lot if we could get rid of them. “Only” politics stands in the way. The Obama administration actively markets these giveaways. But if we can’t make the easy decisions, we’ll never tackled the more difficult decisions like entitlement reform.