I think you hit the nail on the head. Mandatory spending was 65% of our budget last year the majority of which goes to healthcare, pensions, and social securit

I think you hit the nail on the head. Mandatory spending was 65% of our budget last year the majority of which goes to healthcare, pensions, and social security. Defense was over half of our discretionary spending. I'm hopeful that the US could make changes in defense spending but healthcare and pensions will screw us and it will be our own fault. The second you open a conversation with "We are going to reform pensions" or "We are going to guide health access in medicare" politicians have stepped on too many voters' toes and the system falls apart. If the US adopted a policy for medicare similar to the UK's NICE it would be derided as "death panels". I think we all want an easy ride and regrettably the people who will end up paying for it are going to be the people with little to no say.