Where The Savings Lie (Not)

Drum-roll, please:

In a news conference, Orszag, the OMB director, said budget deficit reductions are achieved in part by allowing tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans to expire as scheduled at the end of 2010, the closing of "a variety of corporate tax loopholes," the "winding down" of the war in Iraq and the adoption of measures to make government more efficient.

For example, he said, nearly $50 billion can be saved over 10 years by reducing Social Security errors and "improper payments." A proposal to phase out a category of agricultural subsidy payments for large farms with more than $500,000 a year in revenue would save $10 billion over 10 years, Orszag said. To help pay for the $634 billion program to expand health care coverage to some of the 48 million Americans who are currently uninsured, the administration would reduce "overpayments" to private insurance firms that cover Medicare beneficiaries by introducing a competitive bidding process, he said. He said this would save more than $170 billion over 10 years.

If you're underwhelmed by that, join the club. I was prepared for big government, but I expected some nod toward some spending restraint and entitlement reform in the long run. I guess the reduction in ag subsidies is a good thing. But seriously: that's it?