Half of our annual budget is spent on entitlement programs. I wouldn't call it a pittance. If you print more money you devalue existing dollars and they are worth less. Plenty of examples of hyperinflation exist for you to read up on.

Debt is the reason why so many people fail to get ahead in life and find themselves flat broke when they reach retirement age. They "need" to get that new car, iPhone, college degree in a useless field, and on and on. They buy things they cannot afford with money they do not have. Easy credit is a poison for people who do not have the impulse control to use it wisely or better yet don't use it at all.

Debt works a little different for a country, but it is still not a good thing. Eventually you have to pay the piper. Propping up an economy with debt is not a long term strategy that we should embrace.

I agree with you 100% that we need to call all our troops back home. We have been fighting illegal "wars" for years now and it needs to end. The cost of the wars combined with all the money we then spend rebuilding the infrastructure we just destroyed is a complete waste and creates no value for our country.

The other consideration is all of the money spent outside of the budget itself. The budget is only a part of the bigger picture. They can draw up a so called balanced budget and pat themselves on the back knowing that they will just write spending bills all year to finance all the crap they didn't put in the budget. That needs to be done away with. If you want to spend it, put it in the budget and put your name on it.