While it appears that every day  fraud and abuse in the federal government, unfortunately, America is on an unsustainable financial path and the numbers don’t lie. The national debt has surged past $36.5 trillion, with no signs of slowing down. Both parties are complicit, but it is the left’s relentless push for government expansion, social programs, and reckless spending that has put us on the trajectory toward an inevitable $40 trillion in debt.

The fiscal budget line items nobody mentions 
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When you closely examine  there are only four-line items that are substantive to the overall expenditures in the United States. Here they are:

1.  Healthcare programs (Medicare and Medicaid)
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    These programs collectively account for approximately $1.67 trillion a year of spending, representing 24% of the federal budget. Medicare provides health coverage to seniors, while Medicaid assists low-income individuals. The aging population and rising healthcare costs make it challenging to curtail spending in this area.
    
2.  Social Security
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    With an annual expenditure of about $1.5 trillion,  of the budget. It offers retirement and disability benefits to eligible citizens. Given its role as a primary income source for many retirees, any attempts to reduce benefits face significant political resistance.
    
3.  Net interest on the debt
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    Here lies the part of the problem on why $40 trillion in debt is inevitable. Interest payments on the national debt are at a staggering $1.1 trillion dollars a year, comprising 15.6% of the budget. As the debt grows and interest rates rise, these debt payments are akin to a household that has runaway credit card debt on a one-way dead-end path to bankruptcy.
    
4.  Defense spending
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    The defense budget stands at approximately $884 billion, accounting for 12.5% of federal spending. This includes funding for military operations, personnel, equipment, and research. National security concerns and geopolitical dynamics make defense cuts politically sensitive.
    
Expanding revenue from all these sources is problematic. Higher individual taxes can dampen consumer spending and savings. Elevated payroll taxes place a burden on both employees and employers, potentially affecting employment rates. Augmenting corporate taxes may drive businesses to relocate operations abroad, diminishing the domestic tax base.
    
The political reality: DOGE is a start, but both sides must give in to fix this problem…
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So far, DOGE estimates over $100 billion in savings. This is a combination of asset sales, contract/lease cancelations and renegotiations, fraud and improper payment deletion, grant cancelations, interest savings, programmatic changes, regulatory savings and workforce deductions. Let’s not make light of the fact that $100 billion dollars is meaningful, but it’s a far cry from closing the gap on the $2 trillion-dollar fiscal deficit we are running now, with half of that deficit being the net interest on the debt.
    
What Americans hate most is hearing bad news or difficult news, which is why we elect new presidents who have great approval ratings until they start making the hard changes. Nobody likes the hard changes. Approval ratings go down and politicians adjust to become more favorable to the American public.
    
While Republicans talk about fiscal responsibility, they have largely abandoned the fight for balanced budgets. We need one now in the worst way possible. The national debt soared under both Presidents George W. Bush and Trump, proving that even so-called conservatives are willing to spend freely when it suits their agenda.
    
> The reality is the taxes provided by corporations only equal a paltry 9% of federal revenue. Even if tax rates on corporations went back to 35%, the tax revenue earned from this change could pale in comparison to making the United States competitive for companies to locate in our country. 

Meanwhile, Democrats openly embrace massive government expansion, arguing that "deficits don’t matter" and that the rich can simply be taxed more to cover the cost. It's always the Democratic answer, play Robin Hood. Take from the rich and give to those who deserve it more (even after you busted your tail to earn it).
    
The truth is, taxing the wealthy will never be enough. Even if the government confiscated all the wealth of America’s billionaires, it would barely make a dent in the national debt. The only real solution is to both cut spending and increase taxes at the same time, but there is no political will on either side to do so. Any attempt at fiscal restraint is met with fierce opposition from special interest groups and politicians, media outrage and accusations of cruelty on one side or the other.
    
The path forward: we are stuck, and it’s why we will hit $40 trillion 
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The U.S. is racing toward $40 trillion in debt, and the consequences will be severe. Inflation, economic stagnation and a declining global standing are just a few of the risks we face if we don’t get our fiscal house in order.
    
When your kids cry in the candy store, do you always give in and buy them a piece of candy? The answer is no. The answer is not what Americans want to hear. The answer is it’s time to avoid a full-blown economic crisis through serious spending cuts, entitlement reform and a return to sound fiscal policy. This won’t be easy, and it won’t be popular, but the alternative — a bankrupt America — is far worse.
    
Unless we do something soon, Washington’s addiction to spending and a political class unwilling to make tough choices, hitting $40 trillion in debt isn’t just possible — it’s inevitable.
    

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