Pragmatic Policy · Investigation · Fiscal
Paying for it, without austerity.
Interest on the debt now rivals defense and compounds on autopilot. The answer isn't austerity (shrinks the base) or 'deficits don't matter' (inflation disagreed) — it's durable revenue + health-cost control.
FACT
§2 · Thesis
The US has a chosen revenue problem, not just a spending one. Fund the agenda and stabilize the books at once — by collecting what's owed and bending health costs.
Not austerity, not MMT. A revenue portfolio plus the one long-run lever that isn't a benefit cut.
The number
~13%
of federal outlays now go to net interest on the debt — on par with the entire defense budget, and rising as debt and rates compound (CBO/OMB).
Congressional Budget Office; OMB
§5 · Graded Claim
Net interest has grown to ~an eighth of the budget — rivaling defense — and it compounds automatically.
FACT
The one 'priority' no one chose: the automatic bill for past deficits, squeezing every deliberate priority (CBO/OMB).
§5 · Graded Claim
It's a chosen revenue problem: the 2001 and 2017 tax cuts widened deficits, and 'tax cuts pay for themselves' is false.
FACT
US revenue/GDP is low among peers by policy choice; the offsetting growth never came (CBO; Treasury; Tax Policy Center).
§5 · Graded Claim
A large 'tax gap' (hundreds of billions/yr, concentrated at the top) is recoverable by funding IRS enforcement — no rate change needed.
PROBABLY TRUE
Direction well-established; exact recovery depends on targeting and sustained funding (IRS/Treasury).
§5 · Graded Claim
The biggest long-run fiscal lever is controlling health-care costs — a spending fix that ISN'T a benefit cut.
PROBABLY TRUE
Health-cost growth is the dominant long-run deficit driver (CBO); the same universal-coverage design that helps people also bends the curve.
§6 · Record vs Narrative
Two ways to get it wrong; one to get it right.
Wrong (rebutted)
- Austerity now — shrinks the base; hits the floor hardest.
- MMT / 'deficits don't matter' — 2021-23 inflation.
- 'Tax cuts pay for themselves' — 2001/2017 receipts.
Right
- Progressive rates + close loopholes (carried interest, step-up).
- Fund the IRS — collect what's already owed.
- Price carbon; control health costs (the long-run driver).
Declassified
Honest limit: deficits aren't the enemy — structural gaps + compounding interest are. Borrowing to invest can pay off.
§7 · Why it matters now
The line that decides whether the rest is affordable.
Every priority has to be paid for, and interest is the meter running in the background. The country can fund a serve-the-people agenda and stabilize its finances at once — by collecting revenue it chose not to, and controlling health costs rather than cutting the floor.
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▦ Ledger gaps
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- OpenThe exact revenue blend and its distributional/behavioral effects — a genuine design debate.
- OpenDefense, investment, and institutions — the remaining budget-bloc spokes.
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