The US needs to hike taxes or slash social programs to rein in the soaring deficit, but probably won't do either, Paul Krugman says

• The US needs to rein in its $1.5 trillion budget deficit, Nobel economist Paul Krugman said.
• Policymakers can do that either by hiking taxes or slashing spending on social programs. 
• But they're unlikely to do that with Congress split. 

The US needs to deal with its soaring budget deficit, but the only options available for it to do so mean that it probably won't, according to Nobel laureate Paul Krugman. 

That's because the two paths to getting the deficit under control are: slash spending on social programs, or raise taxes. With a split Congress, neither are likely to happen. 

"[W]hile we needn't panic over budget deficits, a lower deficit would really help with economic management right now. But it isn't going to happen," Krugman said in an op-ed for the New York Times on Monday.