It’s finally time to get serious about reducing the national debt. It’s time to get serious about the phrase that is used often but seldom sincerely: “Everything is on the table.”

That means both sides have to start thinking about economics as policy, not theology. Republicans have to back off their insistence that no form of tax increase can be part of any deal. Democrats have to end their determination to protect every element of every social program. No compromise is possible unless leaders in both parties stand up to the heads-in-the-sand naysayers in their own ranks.

Anyone in Washington not totally divorced from reality knew this day was coming. Politicians have been spending money they don’t have for a long time now, but they could stay in denial for one simple reason: The world let us, buying our bonds and enabling our bad habits because the dollar was still the most trusted currency in the world. We were not Greece or Portugal or even Great Britain because the Chinese kept paying off our credit cards.

But this week that last flimsy veil was ripped away. Standard & Poor’s, the giant financial rating agency, lowered America’s economic outlook from “stable” to “negative.” And while Washington’s top-shelf AAA bond rating remains the same, that could change if a long-term budget deal is not reached -- and soon.