[quote=@POOHEAD189]Also something I knew (but not to this extent) was that our 7 trillion dollar deficit per year would almost be met if we halted military spending. Not to say we should halt it entirely, but even though we spend more on defense than any country (and more than many countries combined) we'd still be 20 trillion in debt, and the american work force would need to work for free 3/4ths out of the year to even get close to helping pay the debt the U.S. is in. Cutting military spending entirely would barely get us on track. 
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That would be surprising, since the DoD budget is $574b, and the entire federal budget (all of it) is $4.1t. Honestly don't know where your numbers are coming from.

Edit: okay so the 2017 deficit is $440b, not $7t. So technically yes, that would work once. Then again, [url=https://media.nationalpriorities.org/uploads/2017_pres_budget_total_spending_pie_large.png]this is what our spending looked like when we ran that deficit.[/url] We spent twice the DoD's budget on unemployment benefits. So..... you know..... perhaps running >3% GDP growth will cut those unemployment numbers while also driving up revenue. But [url=http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-3percent-20170519-story.html]that's a pipe dream.[/url]

... [url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2017/09/28/u-s-economic-growth-revised-up-3-1-rate-q-2/711674001/]jk Trump already did that[/url]

Double Edit: Also, we should be spending less than we are on the military. Not [i]nearly[/i] the kind of cuts most people are talking about -- parity with other nations [b]is the stupidest defense strategy of all time ever[/b] -- but we are wasting money and we can save a lot of it without draconian cuts.