The March 8th, 2010 issue of Newsweek had an article by Fareed Zakaria called Defusing the Debt Bomb.
He had three suggestions.
1. Adopt a Value Added Tax which most countries now have as a National Sales Tax. Make that 25% and you can balance the Federal budget and eliminate the Income Tax except for those earning over $100k and those would pay a flat 25%. Reward Americans for saving.
2. Get rid of various subsidies, running $250 billion a year.
3. Raise the retirement age.

These can be hashed over, but the upshot is, should we not pay for the services we need and vote for?
Let us work and innovate.