U.S. policymakers now seem compelled to make dramatic budget cuts that many have pushed for, but also avoided. Political skirmishes have played out over fiscal cliffs, debt ceilings and the so-called sequester — an automatic budget-slashing regime. As political theatrics take center stage, it’s worth pausing to ask: How can the U.S. solve long-term debt issues given daunting economic, social and Constitutional restraints? To dig into this, Knowledge at Wharton spoke with Wharton finance professor Franklin Allen , co-editor — along with Anna Gelpern, Charles Mooney and David Skeel — of a new book titled, Is U.S. Government Debt Different?, published by the Wharton Financial Institutions Center . The book, which is available free on the WFI website, is a collection of 15 articles based on a conference at the University of Pennsylvania in 2012. A key theme: If there is any potential silver bullet out there, it may be value added taxes, a strategy followed by many other countries.…