Column: Politicians seem incapable of balancing the federal budget

Iwas struck, no, dumbfounded by this: Debt funded all federal government spending in 2025.

The federal government plans to spend a total of $7 trillion in fiscal 2025 but only bring in $5.16 trillion in revenue. That leaves a deficit of approximately $1.8 trillion. The big four expenditures — Social Security, Medicare/Medicaid, debt interest and defense — account for nearly three-quarters of national spending. All other programs — for other Cabinet departments and hundreds of agencies, including for social services, infrastructure, farmers, Amtrak, and on and on — spend about the same amount each year as the $1.8 trillion we incurred in debt.

In 1980, total debt represented 34% of the gross domestic product. This past year, the $36.2 trillion debt equaled 120% of GDP, according to the F