> In 2020, the cost of the programs I mentioned above was approximately 2.3 trillion dollars. Payroll tax revenue was 1.3 trillion, income tax revenue was about 1.6, everything else is half a trillion.
Sure but the programs ran surpluses for many years, all of that money being lent to the government. You can’t double count paying that debt down as new debt if you counted it as debt when it was lent to the general fund (if debt was used to pay down debt, then it just remains). Likewise, interest payments on that debt also go back into the programs (since they were debtees), so if you get to only count that interest once even if it is being transferred inside what you are taking as the budget (so interest the government pays to SS shouldn’t be counted as additional debt either). The point where previous surpluses no longer cover current outlays (2035 for social security, 2026 for Medicare) is when we can start counting extra money put in as new debt.
Sure but the programs ran surpluses for many years, all of that money being lent to the government. You can’t double count paying that debt down as new debt if you counted it as debt when it was lent to the general fund (if debt was used to pay down debt, then it just remains). Likewise, interest payments on that debt also go back into the programs (since they were debtees), so if you get to only count that interest once even if it is being transferred inside what you are taking as the budget (so interest the government pays to SS shouldn’t be counted as additional debt either). The point where previous surpluses no longer cover current outlays (2035 for social security, 2026 for Medicare) is when we can start counting extra money put in as new debt.