For week ended 2/23/25.
Washington, D.C. has been buzzing with noise lately—depending on your politics, you’re either distressed or downright thrilled. While diving into the political minefield is always risky, as one who consistently works with data, I felt the strong urge to provide you, dear reader, with the math behind much of the debate. After all, numbers don’t lie (provided they’re accurate), so the next time your neighbor, friend, questionable in-law, or self-appointed “expert” launches into a rant, keep these facts in your back pocket.
• 2025 Federal Budget: As February wraps up, total spending for this fiscal year is projected at a cool $7.0 trillion. Meanwhile, total revenue—coming from income tax, payroll tax, corporate tax, and “other” sources—is estimated at $5.1 trillion. Add in another $80 billion from tariffs (yes, they really count that), and you get just under $5.2 trillion in total revenue. The math? A staggering deficit of nearly $1.9 trillion for the year.
• 2025 Spending Breakdown: A quick look at the ledger shows that so-called “non-discretionary” spending—which includes Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and other mandatory items—is around $4.2 trillion, or 59% of total spending. Interest on the debt is projected to be just under $1 trillion (about 14%), a huge jump from the 4–5% share before 2021. Then there’s non-defense discretionary spending at roughly $1 trillion (14%) and defense spending at $859 billion (12%). Bottom line: we now pay more in interest than we do for defense, and all the political bickering in D.C. has historically been over just a quarter of the budget.
• Federal Debt: Our debt-to-GDP ratio has ballooned from about 40% in 2010 to a jaw-dropping 98% today. If that doesn’t raise a few red flags, consider this history lesson: nearly every major civilization—from the Romans and Ottomans to the Spaniards, Dutch, and English—either crumbled or became minor players on the global stage once their debt became unsustainable.
And let’s be clear—these figures aren’t cherry-picked from Fox News, CNN, or any other biased source. They come straight from the Congressional Budget Office. As mentioned before, numbers don’t lie. So, the next time you’re caught up in a D.C.-centric debate, let these data points speak for themselves.
Now, go tackle your week with some fresh, unvarnished knowledge about our nation’s finances. Good morning!
Interesting data point of the week.
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