Debt, deficits, and debt interest payments have crippled America’s finances in a way that only a government of corrupt clowns could have made possible. Decades of overspending are coming home to roost. We all get to live with the consequences.

The Treasury Department recently published its monthly treasury statement showing receipts and outlays through September 2024.This monthly statement is of particular interest because it provides the final tally for fiscal year 2024. So, with another wastrel year in the books, where did things end up?

For FY2024, the U.S. Treasury collected $4.92 trillion. However, it paid out $6.75 trillion. The difference, the deficit, was $1.83 trillion. And this difference was covered with debt.

The top outlay, of no surprise, was social security, which totaled $1.4 trillion. This was followed by health at $912 billion. The third highest outlay was net interest on the debt, which came in at $882 billion. Of note, net interest on the debt exceeded both Medicare ($874 billion) and national defense ($874 billion).

Net interest on the debt increased dramatically in FY2024 because of relatively higher interest rates. As comparison, in FY2023 net interest on the debt was $659 billion and in FY2022 it was just $475 billion. In other words, net interest on the debt was roughly 85 percent higher in FY2024 than it was just two years ago. Continue reading →