You're right. The US government spends so much, and owes so much, that even raiding the wealth of the billionaire class probably wouldn't do much in the overall

You're right. The US government spends so much, and owes so much, that even raiding the wealth of the billionaire class probably wouldn't do much in the overall scheme of things. But how much of US economic and fiscal policy has been influenced by billionaires (and "the rich" generally) to the detriment of the country's finances and those of everyday citizens? It's the policies that are the problem. If you counted the costs of the tax loopholes designed specifically to benefit big corporations, real estate developers, Wall Street titans, the 1% of the 1%, etc., subsidies for the most powerful special interests, and regulations that actually stunt innovation and economic growth to protect large corporations, I suspect you'd be looking at many multiples of the wealth of individual billionaires. In other words, to get one astronaut worth a cool $100 billion, the country probably "spends" many multiples of that.