How to cut spending by $200 million

Easy - just raise the retirement age for Social Security, eliminate deductions of interest on mortgages worth more than $500,000, and make deep cuts in defense spending. Those are among the provocative draft recommendations by the chairmen of the bipartisan White House deficit commission. Whether these proposals even make it through the full commission is another story. From the NYT:

The proposals will pose a test or an opportunity for Mr. Obama as he adjusts to the election drubbing that cost his party control of the House and reduced its Senate majority -- depending on whether he tacks to the political center and embraces them in his own budget early next year, or shifts more to the left and leaves them on the shelf. The chairmen's proposals, and other deficit reports coming out soon from other groups, will present a challenge also to Congressional Republicans by challenging their contention that the budget can be balanced by spending cuts alone -- a claim that even many conservative economists and budget analysts reject, given the scale of projected debt as the Baby Boom generation retires and claims federal benefits.