Has anyone noticed what we’re not talking about? I mean, really not at all? The budget deficit. After all those years when deficit scolds completely dominated the conversation, when Fix the Committee for a Responsible Debt Coalition were, if you listened to the press, the source of all that was good and noble and BowlesSimpsonish, quite suddenly the whole thing has dropped off the agenda.

You could say that this reflects the dwindling of the deficit — but that’s old news; anyone doing the math saw this coming quite a while ago. Or you could mention the failure of the often-predicted financial crisis to arrive — but after so many years of being wrong, why should a few months more have caused the deficit scolds to disappear in a puff of smoke?

Anyway, it’s quite remarkable. And it’s a good thing — although the price for years of warped discourse and completely wrong priorities has been immense.