I was searching for some way to add to this analysis by Robert J. Samuelson at the Washington Post, but frankly I’m just not that smart. If you want to step back from the partisan walls and see why the Republicans have been doing a bad job at planning for the country’s economic future and the Democrats’ current plans are making it worse, follow the link and read the entire thing for yourself. Warning: None of you partisans on either side will be happy. But here’s a quick money quote to get you started.

Everyone favors benefits and opposes burdens (taxes). Republicans want to cut taxes without cutting spending. Democrats want to increase spending without increasing taxes, except on the rich. The differences between the parties are shades of gray. Hardly anyone asks the hard questions of who doesn’t need benefits, which programs are expendable and what taxes might cover remaining deficits.

What long sustained this system was falling defense spending and routine, though usually modest, deficits. As defense spending declined — from 9 percent of GDP in the late 1960s to 3 percent in 2000 — social spending could rise without big tax increases. Deficits provided extra leeway. But these expedients have exhausted themselves. Deficits have risen to alarming proportions; in a risky world, defense cannot drop indefinitely.

Leave your party bias at the door and take a look. It goes well beyond being “not pretty.” It’s downright frightening and sounds horribly accurate to me.