Put it on the credit card

With the national debt shooting above $10 trillion, our lenders are taking a second look at Treasury bonds. Boston Globe: "As creditors get edgy, US keeps spending"

The math is simple. Federal taxes bring in $2.5 trillion a year for the government. But we spend almost $3 trillion. Of this, over half is gobbled up by "entitlement" programs such as Medicare, Social Security, veterans and federal retirement pensions, and a further $700 billion by the Defense Department. That leaves less than $800 billion for everything else the government does - but interest payments on the debt soak up $250 billion. As the debt grows, and interest rates rise, interest payments will squeeze more and more of the budget, leaving us with only two unpleasant options - raise taxes or cut spending. The longer we wait, the more painful the choice becomes.

Discretionary government spending wiped out by entitlement costs? Where have I heard that before?