Virtually everyone, the public, members of both political parties, economists, the media, members of the financial community...everyone...agrees that the U.S. must begin to cut spending and start to make some attempts, however modest, to balance the budget and reduce the national debt.

So what's going to happen? The GOP swept into comfortable control of the House of Representatives, where all budgets and spending plans are created. The Tea Party candidates were a big part of the defeat of the Democrats in the fall elections. Now's the time for the people who campaigned as fiscal conservatives to put their votes where their mouths were while campaigning for election. The President's Deficit Commission has issued it's report, with a number of very specific recommendations. Members of Congress are staying away from commenting or taking a position on the recommendations like a third rail--even the supposedly most fiscally conservative members of the Tea Party.

Here are five recommendations that the Deficit Commission made. They're not hard to understand...

1. Delayed retirement and reduced Social Security expense: A plan that would require Americans to retire at 68 by 2050 and 69 by 2075.

2. More expensive gas: A proposal to raise the federal gas tax by 15 cents per gallon. The funds would go to whittle down the deficit and fund infrastructure projects. At the same time more expensive gas would drive Americans towards the use of more fuel efficient cars.

3. Simpler tax code: The plan would overhaul individual income taxes and corporate taxes, giving Congress the choice of reducing the top rate to as low as 23 percent and no higher than 29 percent. The lower the rate, the fewer the tax credits and deductions available.

4. Significantly reduced military spending: Tight "caps" would be imposed on all agency budgets adopted by Congress, but the plan includes a near-freeze on the Pentagon's budget.

5. Fewer, cheaper federal employees: A three-year freeze on federal worker pay is proposed, and the elimination of 200,000 workers from the federal payroll through attrition. (That sounds like a lot, but it's only 7.3% of the total federal payroll. And no federal worker would get laid off! All the reductions would come from normal attrition. Things should be so good in the private sector!)

Not too hard to understand, don't you think? If all were enacted, it would begin to take a small whack at the budget deficit, although any deficit at all would continue to add to the national debt.

How many of these things do you think the House of Representatives--now controlled by the GOP I remind you--will enact? Remember, these were the guys who were so obstructionist that many began to call them the "party of No!" Now they're firmly in control of the country's purse strings. What will they do?

You want my answer? Nothing! Because there is virtually no difference between Democrats and Republicans, conservatives or progressive liberals, the shrillest voices from both the left and the right, in their willingess to spend our money--and of that's not enough, all they can borrow from the Chinese!

We won't have to wait long to see what will happen. A vote on further increasing the limit on national debt and a budget for the federal government next year will happen in the next few months. Do you want to see what the real difference is between Republicans and Democrats, between progressive liberals and conservatives? Watch and see. I'm saying it's next to nothing!

Then you'll know for sure whether it does any good to vote for one party or the other.