Bowles and Simpson also refused to treat the defense budget as sacrosanct—proposing tens of billions in cuts to unnecessary weapons programs and laying off many defense contractors. Maintaining America’s military dominance should be a key priority for those on both the left and the right. But, as Gregg Easterbrook argues in the new issue of TNR, preserving our military strength need not be synonymous with squandering billions on wasteful, largely useless Pentagon programs. Bowles and Simpson seem to recognize this…

Even some of the provisions that are causing apoplexy on the left are not, in reality, as offensive as they may appear at first glance. It’s true that raising the Social Security retirement age disproportionately affects the poor, who have seen much smaller life-expectancy increases over the past few decades than high-earners have. But to make things fairer, Bowles and Simpson endorse several long-standing liberal priorities. They would provide extra benefits for people so old they have outlived their savings, create an early-retirement program for people unable to work strenuous jobs past age 62, and institute a minimum benefit to guarantee lifelong low-earners a retirement above the poverty line. All told, the lowest 20 percent of earners, according to commission projections, would actually see a benefit increase.