How to Pay Down the National Debt

Paying down the National Debt must be our governments' highest priority. At 10 trillion dollars and growing, just paying the interest each year ranks this item as one of the top four expenditures in the budget, along side of the military, social security, and Medicare/Medicaid. 13% of a 2.7 trillion budget, $351 million, stands in the way of any new government spending program.

We can and must take hard stands if we are to dig our way out of this debt hole.

First congress must establish debt pay down as a national emergency. Then they need to create laws that hold them to a strict sending program. Such a program would require that, year one, the debt must be lowered by 1%, a mere 100 billion dollars, 3.7% of the budget. The next year it would be a 2% pay down, increasing an additional 1% each year for the first 5 years. After 5 years the debt would be down to 8.6 trillion dollars. This pay down would continue at 5% until the debt is dissolved.

As the debt is lowered, so are the interest payments, allowing a slow growth in the national budget.

As a method of dealing with emergency spending, congress would have to set aside 50 billion dollars each year from their revenue, as a contingency fund. Should no emergency spending situation occur, these funds could be used to further reduce the debt.

In order to achieve these pay down amounts, the nation must make some hard spending choices. The first would be a moratorium on COLA increases. Whether Social Security, Military, government salaries, or automatic program increases, all would stop unless specifically targeted and paid for under the current budget conditions.

The second would be a reduction in government staffs and top level pay. Congress can lower both their pay and executive pay scales by 33%. Each congressman must loose two staffers, and each executive office must delete 10% of their staffs.