Choices in Economic Policy (USA...)

The IMF's Chief Economist and head of fiscal affairs argue in today's FT that 'measures that improve the long-term fiscal outlook in those countries with high deficits and debt' should receive top priority, and they suggest that reforms of pensions and health are among the politically feasible options. The only economist who has not jumped in to the debate on Stimulus vs. Austerity must be Karl Marx, and he is indisposed. I would like to see a requirement that all writers of Op-Ed pieces on this subject be required to suggest just how their proposals could actually become reality in the current dysfunctional US political system? What sort of crisis that cannot be foreseen (a 'Black Swan Event' ?) will it take to bring about the needed political consensus? A grandes males, grandes remedios?