One thing is clear about the race for the presidency. None of the candidates really want to talk about the hard stuff.

They want to make promises about health care, usually by expanding it to cover everyone who is uninsured. They allude to problems with Social Security. But they avoid talk about the looming costs of Medicare and Medicaid benefits as the 78 million baby boomers move into old age.

The next president, whoever he or she is, must confront these problems, or the nation will be lost.

Luckily, more responsible people are pushing for these hard conversations. Earlier this week, experts testified before the U.S. Senate budget committee that the nation is in peril if Americans don't address the approaching Social Security problem.

Starting in 2017, the Social Security administration will be putting out more money than it takes in. "We have been diagnosed with fiscal cancer," David Walker, the U.S. comptroller general, told the committee.

"Nobody can say when all of this might end up in a crisis," said Bob Bixby of the Concord Coalition said. It will be " a long, slow erosion in the standard of living." What are the global implications if the United States is no longer in the top tier?

On Oct. 23, the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget outlined more challenges. Alison Fraser of the Heritage Foundation said that even elimination of the entire Department of Defense budget would not provide enough money to solve Social Security's shortfall. ...

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