If you read anything policy-related this weekend, make sure it's Peter Orszag's testimony to the Senate Budget Committee. He gives a fair reading of the factors producing the explosion in health care costs.

Though I'd like it to have gone deeper, in terms of the explanation, and maybe a little bolder in terms of the solutions, there's no doubt that this testimony is a tremendous step forward in the debate over the long-term budget imbalance (or should I say, the health care crisis). Kudos, Mr. Orszag! Hopefully, this line of analysis, focusing on the inefficiencies in the health care market, will get enough traction to center the debate moving forward- with no more talk of cutting Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security!

Praise be budget nutcase David Walker. His Word is holy, and those who speak it become holy, i.e. writers for the Washington Post.

Today's epistle expresses almost zero skepticism about any of Walker's claims about the "entitlement" crisis. It is not for the Washington Post to question the Word, though the author gets a little credit for including a paragraph with a quote from a heretic.

In all seriousness, the problem is simple: Walker, et al, lay claim to the Truth about The Budget. They are Sensible and Reasonable people who want the Best for America. It would be absurd- no, defamatory!- to accuse them of exaggeration, or having ideological blinders, or just plain being wrong. They want America to know the Truth.

There's no point in having an inclusive discussion with different perspectives. Everyone on the fiscal wake-up tour agrees with each other- and they are the High Priests of Budget Truth.

Then again, it should be easy for the High Priests to expose the budget heretics and their wicked ways. Why not bring them on the tour- what are the High Priests so afraid of?

CBO's Monthly Budget Review has been released:

The federal government incurred a deficit of $152 billion during the first eight months of fiscal year 2007, CBO estimates, $75 billion less than the shortfall recorded through May of last year. In comparison with receipts collected during the same period in 2006, revenues have risen by about 8 percent; outlays have grown by less than 3 percent. CBO expects that the government will end 2007 with a deficit of between $150 billion and $200 billion.