(ThyBlackMan.com) Last week our country commemorated the 25th anniversary since the 9/11 terrorist attacks. It was a solemn reminder of the real, persistent threat from adversaries who hate America and the freedoms she stands for.
We owe an immeasurable debt of gratitude to the brave men and women who proudly serve our country in uniform — military members, law enforcement and first responders.
Protecting the United States and its citizens is the federal government’s chief responsibility. The preamble to the U.S. Constitution established providing for the “common defense” as a justification for our system of government, and our elected leaders take an oath to preserve, protect and defend our country against those who would do us harm.
Fulfilling that charge is becoming increasingly difficult, and not only because our enemies are becoming more sophisticated, although they are. It owes to our rapidly growing national debt.
This year, the federal debt surpassed $40 trillion for the first time ever, doubling in size in less than a decade. A Congressional Budget Office report this spring estimates the gross debt — the combined amount the government owes to bond holders and to itself through intragovernmental borrowing — will reach $182 trillion in two decades. That’s about $2 million per U.S. household.
Like an individual with significantly overdrawn credit card, our country’s massive debt load is snowballing. The U.S. has not had a year with a budget surplus in a quarter-century. Each deficit — the annual negative difference between what the government collects and what it spends — adds even more to the total debt, which then incurs interests, adding even more costs to the federal ledger.
This financial spiral directly affects our military readiness. Today, the U.S. spends more on interest payments to service our debt than it does on national defense.
As the debt continues to grow, so too will interest costs. The CBO projects that within 10 years, 25 cents of every dollar of tax revenue will be sucked up by interest expenses. That’s money that could be used pay servicemembers, modernize our fleets, or invest in the new technologies and capabilities necessary to stay ahead of our adversaries — but that instead automatically goes to pay borrowing costs on programs we can’t afford.
The Trump administration’s budget for next year requests $1.5 trillion for defense spending, a more than 40% increase over previous years. While at least partially necessary to replenish our military after former Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden slashed funding to pay for their liberal social agendas, the request would be a big ask in good years when the government is flush with money. It’s highly unlikely when the debt is at a historic high.
The president’s budget proposes cutting domestic programs by about 10% to offset the costs. But those savings would only amount to about $74 billion, a fraction of the price tag attached to the administration’s defense budget.
There’s the dilemma. In such a big budget hole, Uncle Sam can scarcely afford to increase spending on our national defenses. And while the problem is bad now, it will only get worse as the debt grows. How much can we afford to go deeper in debt now, and for how long can we kick the can down the road?
The answer to both is, we can’t — not without creating an even bigger fiscal mess in the near future, which will be even harder to clean up, if not impossible.
Finish story here; U.S. National Debt Threatens Military Readiness and National Security.
