Mr. Keefer writes:
> But I want the debt paid off,

In case it has not been mentioned, I believe that paying off some of those
bonds does not reduce the interest owed.  You would just be paying the
interest with more expensive dollars or you would have to buy the notes back
at a premium.  It sounds wise to just not renew notes as they mature.

> Social Security

Recently there was a post on pyramid schemes and the demographics of Soc.
Sec. are looking more and more like one.  There won't be enough money in the
country to fund it if something doesn't change.  The most likely result will
be raising the retirement age in hopes that you die before you collect.
(Already 67 for those born after 1960.)

>and Medicare fully funded

We're talking about adding new spending to this all of the time (e.g. drug
benefit), so a full funding is an unknown as the spending isn't even defined
yet.

> ...The 34% of the budget that currently goes to debt interest

An historical spreadsheet of budgets
(http://w3.access.gpo.gov/usbudget/fy2001/sheets/hist06z1.xls)
shows that the interest as a percentage of outlays is about 13.5% for 1999
and the estimate shrinks going forward.

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