The U.S. federal government is several weeks away from reaching a disturbing milestone, surpassing $40 trillion in debt.

The U.S. Senate just left for recess after passing another stopgap spending bill with no offsetting cuts. This avoids a government shutdown before the midterm elections but does not slow gargantuan increases in the federal debt.

In the last 18 years, the federal debt has quadrupled. In that time, has the standard of living of most Americans improved dramatically? While some Americans are doing well, there are 35.9 million individuals in poverty, with 12.3 percent on food stamps. At the end of 2024, there were 770,000 homeless Americans, the highest total ever recorded.

This huge increase in debt certainly did not benefit the American people. The average American faces $63,340 in personal debt, a figure that has remained steady in recent years.

If the benefits were not shared with the American people, why did our government accumulate such a debt? For much of the past 18 years, America has been at war in Iraq and Afghanistan. These wars cost $8 trillion and the lives of 7,073 military personnel.

In the last 18 years, the federal government bailed out banks, created the Obamacare monstrosity, and dealt with the COVID-19 pandemic by shutting down the economy and spending $4.65 trillion in “relief funds for response and recovery efforts.”

As Americans have learned from recent disclosures, the quarterback of our pandemic response, Dr. Anthony Fauci, was a liar who misrepresented the impact of COVID-19 and caused additional financial damage and unnecessary loss of life.

Growing government is never the answer, whether the problem is poverty or a pandemic. Unfortunately, politicians of both parties love to throw money at whatever crisis........

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