WASHINGTON — Facing unsustainable budget deficits, the United States will have to make difficult choices between higher taxes and social spending, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said. Wading into a fiercely contested political debate, Bernanke said trimming the deficit was made more urgent by the rapidly aging US population. ‘Inevitably, addressing the fiscal challenges posed by an aging population will require a willingness to make difficult choices,’ he said according to remarks prepared for delivery in Dallas, Texas. ‘To avoid large and unsustainable budget deficits, the nation will ultimately have to choose among higher taxes, modifications to entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare, less spending on everything else from education to defense, or some combination of the above.’ Tackling the massive US budget deficits and ballooning debt has become a hot-button political issue in Washington, as President Barack Obama and his predecessor George W. Bush have spent billions of taxpayers’ money to stave off economic collapse. While both Republicans and Democrats have advocated deficit reduction, they disagree about how and when it should be done. Bernanke said quick steps to balance the books would hurt the fragile recovery, but that a credible […]