NYT Editorial excerpted:

"Americans are right to worry about the deficit. They must also demand that their elected representatives do more than rail about the problem and begin a serious debate about the policy choices ahead. Here are some of the key issues that must be considered:

HOW DID WE GET HERE? When President Bill Clinton left office in 2001, the government had run surpluses for three straight years. By the time President George W. Bush left the White House, the government had run deficits for seven straight years, and the Congressional Budget Office projected a 2009 deficit of over $1 trillion.

Much of the deterioration resulted from huge Bush-era tax cuts, which left the nation chronically short of revenue, especially when it had to pay for two wars. And because the budget was already in bad shape when the financial crisis hit in late 2008, the necessary spending to rescue the system only deepened an already deep deficit. Unchastened, Republicans Ñ joined by a few Democrats Ñ are now determined to dig the hole even deeper by calling for all of the Bush tax cuts to be extended beyond their scheduled expiration at the end of this year.

WHAT ABOUT THE STIMULUS? The deficit has risen further under President Obama, to about $1.4 trillion this year, as the White House has tried to contain the recession it inherited.

The $862 billion economic stimulus, enacted by the Obama administration and Congress in 2009 along with subsequent aid, like extended jobless benefits, prevented a bad situation from becoming much worse, by supporting consumer demand at a time when private sector demand had collapsed. More help is needed. So far, stimulus accounts for an estimated 15 percent of the deficit in 2009, 28 percent in 2010 and 14 percent in 2011."