Congress, WH pursuing only least popular deficit cutting options

Per HuffPost Hill:

The current deficit reduction framework being discussed includes a bipartisan mix of proposals, from the Democratic-favored increase in revenues from wealthier Americans to Republican-favored cuts in programs that prevent old people from being eaten alive by wolves, or what not. However a new survey from Bloomberg finds that the most popular deficit reduction measures aren't being discussed by lawmakers in Washington. Mike McAuliff: "The survey, released Thursday and Friday, found that the most popular options for reducing the deficit was cutting Social Security benefits for high-income earners, with 64 percent favoring that idea. The third and fourth most popular ideas were raising the amount of salary subject to Social Security tax beyond the current $107,000 a year (52 percent) and gradually raising retirement age to 69 (49 percent)...On the congressional side, House Republicans have repeatedly declared that raising taxes is a non-starter -- a stance House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) reaffirmed in a Thursday speech. Yet, the Bloomberg survey found that repealing the Bush-era tax cuts on households earning more than $250,000 is the second most favored idea, at 54 percent. What that leaves on the table are deficit-trimming plans that few people like, such as cutting Medicaid and Medicare by targeting providers, cutting back on the military or trimming cost-of-living increases in Social Security."