>> Quit sending tax dollars overseas would fix it fast.
(in addition)
Quit spending on climate change in any form
Shut down the EPA, fire all those government workers
Shut down the department of education, fire all of them
Cut homeland security (including FBI) by 90%
Shut down DoE, fire all of them
Reduce Commerce by 90%
etc.
Not only would you greatly reduce government spending, but you’d have a million and a half, or so, of ex-FedGov employees suddenly willing to work at REAL jobs... or starve (because no welfare, no food stamps). It would reduce upward pressure on wages, and therefore reduce inflation.
Small government is a thing of economic beauty!
In Social Security in 1940 there were 159.4 workers paying into the system for every beneficiary taking out. In 2013 that ratio was 2.8 to 1! You don't have to believe me here is the link.
https://www.ssa.gov/history/ratios.html
You can also take out far more then you put in. The case of Ida May Fuller.
“
Ida May Fuller worked for three years under the Social Security program. The accumulated taxes on her salary during those three years was a total of $24.75. Her initial monthly check was $22.54. During her lifetime she collected a total of $22,888.92 in Social Security benefits. ..”
There have been tens of thousands of Ida May Fullers. My father who lived until his late 90s calculated when he would be a drag on the system. I remember him giving me an ironic laugh and saying " I'm now stealing from the government!". Again, you don't have to believe me here is the SSA link.
https://www.ssa.gov/history/briefhistory3.html#idamay
Note: Mandatory Spending Consumes 77% of Budget by FY 2023 of a $6 trillion budget.
Major entitlements alone (Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid) will comprise half of the entire budget by 2023. Medicaid will grow the fastest by 96 percent, followed by Social Security (75 percent) and Medicare (72 percent). In 2022 Social Security is 21% of the total budget.
Everything you described falls under discretionary spending. And it's nowhere near the totality of that, in other words nearly insignificant! The politicians particularly the demagogic Rat ones want to keep us focused on the insignificant part of the problem. Much easier than thinking hard and coming up with a plan that financially harms no current beneficiaries and gets us out of this financial mess. (Chile did it! Why can't we?) If we don't the Cloward-Piven dream of financially collapsing us will come true!
Getting rid of the Earned Income Tax Credit would probably solve most of the problem.