by St. Funogas, Survival Blog:

(Continued from Part 1.)

Interest on the National Debt

There are three categories in the US budget. Mandatory spending is mandated by law to be paid. Discretionary spending can be adjusted for each department, or the funding can be eliminated at any time. Interest payments are in their own category but for all intents and purposes are in the mandatory category.

The 2025 budget has the interest payment estimated at $969 billion, just a hair under one trillion. If I can tweak that up to $995 billion based on historical budget misses it will make the math easier as this discussion progresses. The interest paid on the debt amounts to 18.1% of Uncle Sam’s income and when added to the items already discussed, the total comes to 97.8%, and with veteran’s benefits (discretionary spending, not a part of defense spending) added in, totals 99.1% of Uncle Sam’s income. Ninety nine percent. The other 1% will most likely be added to the real total interest on the national debt before the fiscal year is over.