For countries where a one-shot spending cut is politically impossible, there is a slower path: hold real spending flat while the economy grows. The spending/GDP ratio falls automatically each year by a factor of (1 + real spending growth) / (1 + real GDP growth). This is the Canada 1995–2005 and Sweden post-1993 playbook. At 0% real spending growth and 2% real GDP growth, the ratio drops by ~1.96% per year. The simulator's freeze scenario calculates exactly how many years this takes to reach any target spending level for each country.