http://www.usdebtclock.org/ The U.S. national debt is fast approaching $20 trillion. Our debt-to-GDP ratio is above 100%, which is to say that the U.S. has spent over a year's worth of money, but has deferred payment until later. I bet the grandchildren of your grandchildren will be overjoyed at the burden placed on their shoulders. Anyways, you've been given a job. Using current rates and levels displayed by the debt clock, you need to come up with the $20 trillion. Obviously, you don't need to come up with the cash immediately, or even within a year. Granted, even if you nationalized a year's worth of production, you'd still be about a trillion short - and that would have drastic consequences for the economy. Let's simplify this, for discussion's sake. We'll go with the 2015 federal budget allocations. The pie chart should be above. At the time of posting this, the current deficit is just below $520 billion. Eliminating that deficit is in your best interest, but remember that debt compounds. You'll need more than a $1 million surplus to catch up on interest payments. So, how do you come up with the money? You can provide your own numbers for specific policy proposals - I don't mind. I'm curious as to how you rearrange the numbers. Pretend that you have ultimate authority over everything that the state spends money on. Feel free to cut or increase spending as you please. How do you do it? [b]If we get a legitimate discussion, I'll edit in my own preferred method.[/b]