Tough decisions lie ahead for our government. With a federal debt of more than $16 trillion, we need to reduce the long-term deficit and make spending cuts in the federal budget. Without reform, future entitlements and discretionary spending programs will run out of money.

The future looks bleak if members of Congress and the Obama administration cannot get together to craft an appropriate response. Our federal government needs more revenue, additional tax increases, and large-scale budget reforms and spending cuts to solve its present fiscal problem.

Our growth rate has slowed down, and there is little expectation of any upward momentum. Unemployment is presently at 7.8 percent and could go higher.

Our congressional representatives and the administration should not kid our citizens any longer. There are no easy fixes and both sides know that. Tax increases that won’t cripple our economy cannot bring the debt down enough to secure our nation’s future economic well-being. Depending only on cuts to discretionary spending will make very little impact. There must be an agreed-upon solution that combines spending cuts and tax increases.

Federal bills must be stripped down to specifically remedy the issue, not to add “pork” or non-relevant items to proposed bills, before they become law. Even the Affordable Care Act has additions that may cost much more than was originally estimated, and should be re-examined now, since it was not completely read by many congressmen who voted for the 2,300-plus pages that became law.

Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid must be revised in order to assure their survival in the future. The Medicare trust fund will run out of cash in 2024, according to its trustees. Social Security will not have enough money to fully fund its obligations by 2036.

A major reason for these problems is that we are spending far more on these programs now than we are taking in for them, and things will worsen over time. That is because lifespans are now longer than they were when the programs started and the benefits were calculated. A man’s lifespan is estimated at 79 years old, while a woman’s lifespan is approximately 82 years of age. Back in 1950, a man’s expected lifespan was 66, and a woman’s was 71.

Several studies have estimated that most of today’s Medicare recipients are receiving much more in benefits than they paid into the program.

Not only are people living longer lives, but they represent a larger proportion of the population, so there are proportionally fewer young people working to support more who are older. Some experts recommend that Social Security be stabilized by having benefits “means tested,” meaning that persons in higher income brackets would either receive less or be taxed more for their benefits.

The federal government is still spending more than it takes in. Many programs must be reduced or eliminated, including foreign aid, agriculture and oil subsidies, and funds for many community projects and organizations.

Even though taxes have already gone up on higher earners, middle-income families now must pay 2 percent more on federal payroll taxes and the latest budget agreement offered no budget cuts. But we need cuts now.

The challenges to bipartisan collaboration are considerable, but so are the opportunities. Members of Congress need to work together to end the Washington gridlock. One place for them to start would be to reconsider parts of the Simpson-Bowles fiscal reform by cutting spending, reducing tax loopholes and increasing revenues.

President Obama should get involved in negotiations with the Republican representatives on the spending cuts. That is the most important item to be worked on by his administration. The debt must be stabilized and the economy must be put on a path for regrowth. Issues like immigration and gun control laws should be presented only after a bi-partisan solution to the main problem on spending cuts has been completed.

If the debt is not decreased, our credit rating worldwide will be downgraded. Our federal government must have more revenue or make painful spending cuts. We have to do this now, rather than kick the can down the road and face continual crisis situations.

Our economy is at risk. It comes down to fixing our tax code, making health care changes and stabilizing Social Security. The world is changing, and we must change with it.

— Bernard Featherman is a business columnist for the Journal Tribune and former president of the Biddeford-Saco Chamber of Commerce.