For years, the federal government has been running on a simple but unsustainable formula: spend more than it takes in, borrow to make up the difference, and hope that interest rates stay low enough to keep the whole thing from collapsing.
There is not a structural problem, as your chart shows. Entitlements and interest combined have always required the largest part of tax receipts and have never exceeded them. So clearly the problem is with discretionary spending. That's where the budget can and should be balanced.
There is not a structural problem, as your chart shows. Entitlements and interest combined have always required the largest part of tax receipts and have never exceeded them. So clearly the problem is with discretionary spending. That's where the budget can and should be balanced.