Of course others have a plan. The outlines are well known. We can plow through the government eliminating this and that, but this won't get us very far. The truth is that a handful of big programs drive the budget. Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, other entitlements, national defense, and debt service clock in at around 90 percent of federal spending. "General government" is around ten percent and is, along with defense, the declining portion.
We either face up to restraining entitlements, or we wave the white flag. Everyone who has looked at the numbers understands this. Trump, of course, is again talking through his hat and is promising a quick and easy quick fix. Pure boob bait, but he understands his audience.
The only way to (first) balance the budget and (second) begin to pay down the debt is to reduce the rate of growth of federal spending to less than the rate of growth of the economy, and keep it there. It of course helps if we institute policies that grow the economy, as opposed to the systematic sabotage of the Obama era. To restrain entitlements, we need to move Social Security to a fully funded basis, preferably with individually owned, inheritable personal accounts. This will cost money in the short term as we will have to amortize the unfunded liability of the legacy system, but it will pay off in the long run. And on health care we need to repeal Obamacare and move the system to a market oriented model. There are 101 things to do with the other entitlements as well, but health care and Social Security are the dominant issues. Either we fix them, or they will bankrupt us.
It is not true that "no one else has a plan." We know perfectly well what we have to do. And you should note that various Republicans over the last 30 years have made repeated attempts to do these things. The problem is not that no one has a plan. The problem is that we have not had the votes to execute the plan. And now comes Trump, who has attacked other Republicans for talking about entitlement reform and says he can do the job with magic unicorns.
Reducing the deficit or federal spending will not impact the debt unless the reduction in spending is devoted to retiring the debt, which it WON’T be.
While both are noble goals and should be sought what they really impact is the GROWTH of the debt not its elimination.
Even cuts in spending and deficits will not reduce the debt one dollar - only the retirement of the bonds would do that.
Now it is possible that running a surplus would allow those funds to retire debt - but pigs will fly outta my butt before that happens.