All stats from wikipedia, the second greatest use of the internet ever (right behind email). I’m also just assuming that all the projections pan out because it’s too hard to assume otherwise.

The federal government this year will run a deficit of 240 billion dollars. If we could just find a way to cut 240 billion in spending, or raise 240 billion in income, we could actually have a balanced budget. Looking through the government spending numbers I see something just right – we spend 261 billion every year just to finance the national debt (which currently stands at about 9.7 trillion). Now if only we didn’t have this massive debt in the first place, we would actually have a budget surplus! The choice is clear – is we continue to let the debt grow it will do so exponentially, continuing to restrict what our government can do, continuing to place limitations on our spending, and forcing higher taxes. The other option is to start paying it down, which, while painful in the short run, will make us money in the long run. No politician will tell you this of course, because politicians are only focused on their short term election cycle that they simply push the problem to the next generation. Things will only continue to get worse unless the American people wake up and tell their politicians that a little discomfort now is better than a lot of discomfort later.