每年十月，美国人都在寻找刺激的惊吓，比如鬼屋和恐怖电影。但2026年最令人恐惧的现象，是庞然大物般的国家债务。这个迅速膨胀的巨物正在吞噬沿途的一切，如果不通过消除已经侵蚀华盛顿的浪费、欺诈、滥用、管理不善和过度开支来阻止它，它就将摧毁美国。2026年8月18日，国家债务首次突破40万亿美元，较2017年1月特朗普总统第一任期开始时的19.95万亿美元增长了100.8%。
Every October, Americans look for a good scare, like haunted houses and horror movies. But the most frightening phenomenon in 2026 is the monstrous national debt. This quickly growing blob is consuming everything in its path and will destroy America if it is not stopped by eliminating the waste, fraud, abuse, mismanagement, and overspending that has overtaken Washington. On Aug. 18, 2026, the national debt topped $40 trillion for the first time, an increase of 100.8 percent from the $19.95 trillion owed when President Trump’s first term began in January 2017.
这相当于美国每一个男人、女人和孩子平均背负超过11.6万美元。如果这还不足以让你毛骨悚然，那么预测结果会。国会预算办公室2026年2月17日的一份报告预测，年度赤字将从2026财年的1.9万亿美元增至2036财年的3.1万亿美元。在这十年期间，赤字将平均每年达到2.44万亿美元，累计增加24.4万亿美元，到2036财年将联邦债务总额推高至64.6万亿美元，比现在多61.5%。
That is more than $116,000 for every man, women and child in America. If that doesn’t raise the hair on the back of your neck, the forecast will. A Feb. 17, 2026, Congressional Budget Office report projected annual deficits increasing from $1.9 trillion in fiscal 2026 to $3.1 trillion in fiscal 2036. Over this ten-year period, deficits will average $2.44 trillion a year, adding $24.4 trillion and pushing gross federal debt to $64.6 trillion by fiscal 2036, 61.5 percent more than today.
2036财年的债务将相当于GDP的120%，超过1946年创下的106%的历史纪录。与1946年不同的是，美国并非在从一场灾难性的世界大战中恢复。这笔债务是行政和立法部门未能根除浪费、欺诈、滥用和管理不善的集体失败的结果。正如恐怖片的惯用桥段所说，电话是从房子里面打来的。国家债务的利息支付最生动地展现了这一怪物。
The fiscal 2036 debt would equal 120 percent of GDP, eclipsing the previous record of 106 percent set in 1946. Unlike in 1946, America is not recovering from a catastrophic world war. This debt is the result of a collective failure by the executive and legislative branches to root out waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement. As the horror movie trope goes, the call is coming from inside the house. Interest payments on the national debt show this monstrosity most vividly.
这些支付如今是第三大联邦支出，仅次于社会保障和医疗保险，排在国防预算之前。每一美元用于偿还昨日借款的利息，都是无法用于任何其他用途的一美元。没有任何灵丹妙药能让子孙后代免于为美国前人的罪过买单。幸运的是，债务巨物是可以被阻止的。2026年10月14日，公民反对政府浪费组织发布了2026年版《首要削减》。
These payments are now the third-largest federal expenditure, behind only Social Security and Medicare, and ahead of the defense budget. Every dollar spent servicing yesterday’s borrowing is a dollar unavailable for any other purpose. No silver bullet will save future generations from paying for the sins of Americans past. Fortunately, the debt blob can be stopped. On Oct. 14, 2026, Citizens Against Government Waste released its 2026 edition of Prime Cuts.
这份报告首次发表于1993年，当时国家债务仅为4.4万亿美元。报告提出的494项建议取自民主党和共和党政府、国会议员以及无党派来源的提案，第一年将节省6390亿美元，五年内将节省5.6万亿美元。第一个该被推上削减浪费断头台的项目，应当是市场准入计划，该计划帮助农业生产者在海外推广美国产品。这是企业福利的赤裸裸的例子，它把数百万美元输送给了有能力自行投放广告的大型盈利企业和行业协会。
First published in 1993, when the national debt was a mere $4.4 trillion, its 494 recommendations, drawn from proposals, both Democratic and Republican administrations and members of Congress, and nonpartisan sources, would save $639 billion in the first year and $5.6 trillion over five years. The first item to face the waste cutting guillotine should be the Market Access Program, which helps agricultural producers promote U.S. products overseas. This blatant example of corporate welfare funnels millions to large, profitable corporations and trade associations that can afford their own advertising.
取消该计划可在五年内节省9.07亿美元。接下来看看基本航空服务计划，它于1978年启动，当时是作为一项为期10年的临时计划，目的是在放松管制后维持农村航空连接。近半个世纪后，这个僵尸项目仍在蹒跚前行，补贴的航班大多空无一人，对某些距离主要机场只有很短车程的社区而言，每位乘客的成本有时高达数千美元。
Its elimination saves $907 million over five years. Consider next the Essential Air Service, which was launched in 1978 as a temporary 10-year program to preserve rural air connections after deregulation. Nearly half a century later, this zombie program continues to shuffle along, subsidizing mostly empty flights that sometimes cost thousands of dollars per passenger for communities located a short drive from major airports.
彻底埋葬该计划可在五年内节省38亿美元。还有医疗保险和医疗补助创新中心，它于2010年根据《平价医疗法案》设立，旨在为联邦医疗保险、医疗补助和儿童健康保险计划测试新的支付模式。它带来的只有诅咒和痛苦。国会预算办公室曾预计，该中心将在2011年至2020年间节省28亿美元；结果它却让纳税人付出了54亿美元，预计到2030年还将再亏损13亿美元。
Burying the program for good would save $3.8 billion over five years. Then there is the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, created in 2010 in the Affordable Care Act to test new payment models for Medicare, Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program. It has delivered only curses and misery. The Congressional Budget Office had projected it would save $2.8 billion between 2011 and 2020; instead, it cost taxpayers $5.4 billion, with another $1.3 billion in projected losses through 2030.
其50个模式中只有6个达到了全国推广的标准，成功率仅为可怜的12%。16年过去了，国会应当让该项目安息，从而在五年内为纳税人节省41亿美元。这些只是应当被送上浪费性支出火葬堆的削减项目中的几个样本。万圣节落在2027财年第一个月的最后一天。
Only six of its 50 models met the criteria for nationwide expansion, an abominable 12 percent success rate. After 16 years, Congress should lay that program to rest, saving taxpayers $4.1 billion over five years. These are just a few sample offerings of cuts that should be laid on the funeral pyre of wasteful spending. Halloween is on the last day of the first month of fiscal 2027.
首都的民选官员们可以继续蒙住眼睛，指望这个财政毒瘤慢慢消退，或者他们终于可以醒悟过来，开始削减政府中大规模的浪费、欺诈、滥用和管理不善，以防止美国走向毁灭。黛博拉·科利尔是“公民反对政府浪费”组织的政策与政府事务副总裁。
Elected officials in the nation’s capital can keep covering their eyes and hope the fiscal blob oozes away, or they can finally wake up and start cutting the massive government waste, fraud, abuse and mismanagement to prevent the destruction of America. Deborah Collier is vice president of policy and government affairs at the Citizens Against Government Waste.