Latest U.S. National Debt Amount

[KenH]

 

[atpollard]

A balanced budget is easily within reach, we just need to either:

1. reduce Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and Veterans benefits by 50%
or
2. reduce everything else (like Defense and Highway spending) to ZERO.

Then spending and revenue will balance.
So, who is volunteering to have their SS payments cut in half?
Who votes to eliminate the US Military, interstate Highway System and National Parks, instead?
Look up the numbers … 50% of mandatory spending or 100% of discretionary spending needs to be eliminated just to balance the budget to stop the GROWTH of the debt. We will need to tighten that belt harder if we want to actually pay down that debt.

 

[Salty]

I will address the military (15 years active + 8 years State Guard)
Obviously, we cannot cut ACTUAL Defense spending!

First, lets see how much a GI Makes per month
____________PVT E-3 < 2 years ----------Sgt -E-6- 4 years-----Major/ LTCommander- 8 years

Basic pay--------$ 2,378 -------------------$ 3,741----------------------$ 8,128
Housing *_________1,563........................................1,581............................................2,427
Meals---------------460.25---------------------460.25........................................ 316.98
Clothing--------------50..............................................50......................................................-0-

Total---------------4,451.........................................5,832...........................................$10,872

In addition there are additional allowance for retention, combat pay, ect
Of the above - only basic pay is taxable - so that E-6 receives about $2,000 tax free (at least $200 savings)
Housing is bases on location of the base. For this example, I used Ft Hood, Tx.

As you can see - a GI gets a nice little pay check!

So what could be cut in the Armed Forces.

1) Child care Should single parents be permitted in the Army - I say NO!
2) Overseas - more overseas assignments should be one year - without dependents
In addition - DoD should not move dependents for a sponsors overseas tour
3) Uniforms - no more new uniforms over the past 20 years, the army has changed dress uniform twice.
4)

What would you add to the above list:


From the Heritage Foundation
From DODGE
From NPP
From Thomas Jefferson

 

[Salty]

any comments about single parents in the Army?

 

[Ben1445]

any comments about single parents in the Army?

I would agree that if you have children, they need a parent in the home, not in the barracks. Exceptions are reasonable for car accidents etc. I wouldn’t end someone’s career and give them a pink slip if they lose a spouse by accident or illness. In the case of divorce I would say that the spouse should be divorced from any benefits. Not sure how this works currently.
don’t ask me how that works if both parents are enlisted. Are there rules about that?

 

[Salty]

If there is a divorce - the spouse looses her military ID - but if there are kids - the kids will have an id to get them on base to use the hospital, px. ect. If there is retirement involved, if the marriage has lasted for at least 10 years (while the sponsor is on Active duty) she gets 1/2 of his retirement pay and retains all military benefits, ID card, medical, commissary, ect.

"
In the Army, 3,000 more active-duty soldiers were non-deployable due to legal reasons in 2019 than due to pregnancy
In fact, in the Army, 3,000 more active-duty soldiers were non-deployable due to legal reasons in 2019 (6,325 soldiers a month on average) than due to pregnancy (3,454 soldiers). In the Marine Corps, about 700 more Marines were non-deployable due to administrative problems every month (about 1,940 Marines) than from pregnancy (1,249 Marines). Pregnant or post-partum Marines accounted for 0.003% to 0.005% of the Marine Corps’ end strength, officials said." Link for this info:

 

[JonC]

A balanced budget is easily within reach, we just need to either:

1. reduce Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and Veterans benefits by 50%
or
2. reduce everything else (like Defense and Highway spending) to ZERO.

Then spending and revenue will balance.
So, who is volunteering to have their SS payments cut in half?
Who votes to eliminate the US Military, interstate Highway System and National Parks, instead?
Look up the numbers … 50% of mandatory spending or 100% of discretionary spending needs to be eliminated just to balance the budget to stop the GROWTH of the debt. We will need to tighten that belt harder if we want to actually pay down that debt.

Problem with Social Security is it is not a benefit but a bad investment into which citizens are compelled to invest by the government.

Seniors are not getting social security income from the government, they are getting a return on their own investment that the government mismanaged.

Most of our debt is owed to ourselves.

I think a few steps could help.

1. Reduce government administration.
2. Give some departments back to the states
3. Stop funding stupidity
4. Decrease involvement in foreign affairs when not directly in our interest

Problem is to reverse course and still stay afloat will cost money.

 

[KenH]

As of 7/31/25 - Two months left in fiscal year 2025.