Both Parties Share Blame for the $40 Trillion Debt, But Spending—Not Tax Cuts—Is the Primary Driver
Source: https://www.facebook.com/americanspectator/. "Truths and Omissions As US Hits $40 Trillion in Debt | The American Spectator | USA News and Politics." August 27, 2026. spectator.org
The Gist
The U.S. just hit $40 trillion in debt, and both political parties are pointing fingers at each other instead of admitting the truth: government spending, especially on Social Security and Medicare, is the real problem—not tax cuts. The author argues that unless politicians stop dodging entitlement reform, the country will keep piling up debt and risk more inflation, just like what happened during the pandemic spending spree.
Conclusion
Both Democrats and Republicans are responsible for the national debt crisis through a shared lie of omission, but the data show spending growth (especially entitlements), not tax cuts, is the primary driver of the debt—and unreformed entitlement promises constitute a standing commitment to more debt and future inflation.
Premises
- Using an honest comparison (2000 budget vs. 2026), tax cuts reduced revenue by about 2 percent of GDP, while spending rose by 5.7 percent of GDP—nearly three times as much.
- Despite every tax cut since 2001, revenue today sits near its long-run historical average as a share of GDP, undermining claims that tax cuts are the 'single biggest driver' of debt.
- CBO projects federal spending will keep rising (from 23.3% to 24.4% of GDP by 2036), driven specifically by entitlement programs and interest payments, while discretionary spending shrinks.
- Republicans have consistently failed to reform entitlements (Social Security, Medicare, Obamacare) despite rhetoric, and historically participated in expanding welfare/entitlement spending (as documented by David Stockman).
- Social Security and Medicare trust fund depletion has been predicted for decades due to well-known demographic trends (longer lives, lower birth rates, fewer workers per retiree), yet no structural reform has occurred.
- Medicare increasingly relies on general revenue (over half of outlays, ~$10 trillion over 2026-2035) rather than dedicated payroll taxes, compounding the fiscal problem.
- Government debt functions as a promise of future surpluses; when investors doubted this promise during pandemic-era spending, the result was the 2021-2022 inflation and subsequently higher interest rates—demonstrating that debt is never truly 'cheap,' even at low rates.
Assumptions
- The 2000-vs-2026 budget comparison is a fair and representative baseline for attributing debt causes, rather than the 2001 CBO baseline Democrats use.
- Revenue as a share of GDP remaining near its historical average is sufficient evidence that tax cuts aren't a primary debt driver (rather than, e.g., revenue being artificially suppressed relative to what current spending commitments require).
- The 2021-2022 inflation was primarily caused by fiscal/debt credibility concerns rather than other factors (supply chain disruptions, monetary policy, energy shocks, etc.).
- Entitlement programs cannot be meaningfully reformed without provoking political backlash, hence the mutual avoidance by both parties reflects rational self-interest rather than incompetence.
- Future bondholder confidence is meaningfully tied to entitlement reform specifically, rather than debt levels or fiscal indicators more broadly.