Rather than make politically unpopular trade-offs between benefits and taxes:-

http://www.dailyfinance.com/2010/12/11/americas-economic-illness-baumols-dis/#articleHeader

Rather than make politically unpopular trade-offs between benefits and taxes, the political class of the nation has filled the widening gap between government expenses and tax revenues with a lot of borrowed money -- more than $3 trillion in just the past few years.