Budgepocalypse Now

Can we stop pretending the Affordable Care Act is fiscally responsible now? Politico notes what opponents of the health care bill figured out a while ago: Even if the Medicare cuts work (a dubious proposition), using those cuts to fund a new entitlement has made long-term deficit reduction much more difficult:

Health care ate up most of the available Medicare savings and popular tax offsets that might otherwise be tapped to narrow the deficit. And as a result, it's harder to dig out of the deficit hole, and little progress will be made in the short term absent a further surge in the economy.

Another day, another step closer to the budgepocalypse.