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has been making media rounds explaining that we need to get the federal government’s consumption of GDP back to 18%, where it stood for most of the halfcentury after World War II.

During those years when government was taking 7 percentage points less, our growth was averaging 3.5% per year. Now, the Congressional Budget Office projects 1.8% for 2026 and 2027, half that.

We will restore growth by cutting government and returning the country to its citizens.

Visit the Congressional Budget Office website and you will see a clear infographic summarizing the 2024 federal budget.

Total Outlays: $6.8 trillion. Total Revenues: $4.9 trillion. Deficit: $1.8 trillion.

Net interest on our debt (cost of what we must borrow to finance our deficit): $881 billion. Interest costs now are $31 billion more than our $850 billion defense budget.

The single largest government program? Social Security: $1.5 trillion.

It’s a sign how far Americans have gone to turn their God-given lives over to government that so many are still happy to have government take 12.4% of their paycheck to finance a system whose own trustees say will not be able to meet its obligations beginning 2033.

Black Americans, who were forcibly left out in 1776, today are agreeing to be left out. According to the Federal Reserve Board Survey of Consumer Finances, in 2022, the average value of retirement accounts held by Black Americans was 39% that of White Americans. This would not be the case if they could take ownership of that 12.4% of their paycheck and invest it over a lifetime rather than government controlling it.

The press reports that many politicians cringed when Elon Musk called Social Security a “Ponzi scheme.”

But we have the problems we have because too many who pretend to be leaders are afraid of the truth.

Let’s fix America’s biggest and most broken government program by returning control to American citizens of their own earnings.

Star Parker is founder of the Center for Urban Renewal and Education. Her recent book, “What Is the CURE for America?” is available now. To find out more about Star Parker and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators. com. COPYRIGHT 2025 CREATORS. COM