The growth of the national debt, if not stopped, will bankrupt the nation.

In round 2 I will; Define terms Terms Federal revenue is the total federal income. Federal outlay is the total dollars spent in a year. It is defined as the total mandatory spending plus the total discretionary spending plus debt service. Deficit is the amount of money borrowed by the feds in a year. It is the federal outlays minus the federal revenues Debt service is the amount of money spent on interest and principal payments Debt is the total of all the yearly federal deficits, less principal paid. Mandatory spending is spending that is required by law. In 2017 it is $3 trillion Discretionary spending is spending that Congress decides to spend. In 2017 it is $1.1 trillion. --------------------- Federal revenue " The federal government takes money from taxpayers and other direct sources . "" about 65 percent of taxes the federal government collects come from individuals. Thirty-two percent of taxes come to the government from corporations. Estate and gift taxes, sources of significant debate, account for only 1 percent of federal tax revenues." (1) Other sources include printing money and borrowing. Here is some 2015 information; ""In 2015, total federal revenues in fiscal year 2015 are expected to be $3.18 trillion.2 These revenues come from three major sources: Income taxes paid by individuals: $1.48 trillion Payroll taxes paid jointly by workers and employers: $1.07 trillion Corporate income taxes paid by businesses: $341.7 billion,." (2) ------------------ "Mandatory Spending Mandatory spending covers outlays that are controlled by laws other than appropriations acts. Almost all such spending is for "entitlements," for which expenditures depend on individual eligibility and participation; they are funded at whatever level is needed to cover the resulting costs. Mandatory spending has grown from about a quarter of the budget in 1962 to 60 percent in 2015 (figure 2). This is in large part because of new entitlements, including Medicare and Medicaid (both of which started in 1965), the earned income tax credit (1975), and the child tax credit (1997). In addition, rapid growth of both the elderly and disabled populations has contributed to increased Social Security and Medicare spending."(3) It is composed of social security (37%), medicare (22%), income security (18%), medicaid (15%), veterans (4%) and other (5%). "Discretionary Spending Discretionary spending covers programs that require appropriations by Congress. Unlike mandatory spending, both the programs and the authorized levels of spending require regular renewal by Congress. The share of the budget going for discretionary spending has fallen from two-thirds in 1962 to about one-third now. About half of FY 2015 discretionary spending went for defense, and most of the rest for domestic programs, including agricultural subsidies, highway construction, and the federal courts (figure 4). Only 4 percent of discretionary spending funded international activities, such as foreign aid." (4) "Debt Service Interest on the national debt has fluctuated over the past half century along with the size of the debt and interest rates. It climbed from 6 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 1962 to more than 15 percent in the mid-1990s, fell to about 7 percent in the early 2000s, and has fallen even more recently, as interest rates have tumbled to historically low levels. While the national debt reached a peacetime high of 74 percent of GDP in 2014 and dipped just under that level in 2015, debt service accounted for just 6 percent of federal spending in 2015." (5) ------------------------- (1) https://www.nationalpriorities.org... (2) Ibid (3) http://www.taxpolicycenter.org... (4) Ibid (5) Ibid