The National Debt is like one of those Ponzi schemes where the people involved get arrested. In the classic scheme an organizer cons some people into investing some money for a high rate of return. The return is their own money. Those people get others to invest increasing the pool. The organizer takes lots of pieces of the pool. The problem occurs when too much is taken out and it ends badly for everyone.

Our government takes in money and pays out more than it takes in. The difference is a yearly deficit and adds to all the other yearly deficits in the National Debt. As the deficits increase, because less money is asked for each year, the result is the debt is increased. At some point the debt will become too great and it will not end well for anyone.

A 40% increase in revenue to just end the deficit is needed. The increase would usually come from income taxes. However the government has re-found an old source of income. Before the income tax, government was funded by tariffs–just like the tariffs we are paying by buying items made in China and other countries. This sneaky back-door tax will not offset the latest tax cuts. Current tariffs are a regressive tax because these are designated to affect the middle and lower tax brackets more than the top brackets.