For all the political theater surrounding the newly appointed deficit commission, there are some straightforward steps it could take to change the alarming U.S. debt dynamics. The panel is supposed to recommend ways to narrow the gap to 3% of gross domestic product by 2015, down from this year's 10.6%, and improve the fiscal outlook by tackling entitlement programs. Here's how it could be done: Start with Social Security. Now on track to become insolvent by 2037, the program with modest changes could contribute $60 billion in annual savings by 2014. A quarter of the $5.3 trillion Social Security shortfall over the next 75 years could be made up simply by pegging annual cost - of - living adjustments made to retirees' pensions to an index many economists believe measures inflation more accurately than the one Washington uses.
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