Books that will make you mad

Running on Empty, by Peter Peterson, is an account of the terrible mess that the federal government has gotten itself in regarding our federal deficits vis-a-vis the massive increase in entitlements that the federal government doles out. What Peterson doles out is plenty of blame but spares no target, placing both Republicans and Democrats in his sights. It's partisanship as much as anything else that escalates spending, citing the recent $700 billion increase in Medicare prescription drug benefits as an electoral parry that will hurt all Americans far more than it will help a few. Major problems identified include:

• Demographic changes
• Budgeting processes
• Both tax and economic policy
• Government accounting

To name a few. Peterson proposes remedies to many of these problems but insists that action is required now. My hope is that there are some policy-makers who have the guts to make real changes in the next few years. We'll see.