The most shameful lie in the President's State of the Union speech was the following claim: "Over the last few years, both parties have worked together to reduce the deficit by more than $2.5 trillion. As a result we are more than halfway toward the goal of $4 trillion in deficit reduction that economists say we need to stabilize our finances." I was shocked by this blatant attempt to convince the nation that it is not really necessary to make cuts in Social Security and Medicare. Rather, after misrepresenting the agreement reached in the Budget Control Act of 2011 to cap domestic programs by $1.2 trillion over 10 years-- most of which are on the come-- not actually made-- the President then went on to try and spend more money we don't have on infrastructure( he should have done it in 2009) It sure would be helpful if we could hire people to repair 70,000 bridges, establish pre-nursery schools for every 4 year old kid, attack the environmental problems that emanate from global warming, and welcome valuable immigrants from around the globe. But, first we have to decide which domestic programs need to be capped, and obtain agreement on how to proceed in a manner that won't result in another recession and higher unemployment. Maybe the White House intends to pay for all this by closing loopholes for fat-cat oilmen. That would be a hell of an achievement. Still, I'd rather learn precisely how and where and when and how much we have already reduced the deficit by $2.5 trillion. There's a challenge for some enterprising journalist like myself. I'll let you know how it comes out ASAP.