[cronix]

If they used the real inflation numbers, this problem would be even more astronomical than it is: https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/IF/IF10522

because

> Mandatory expenditures, such as Social Security, Medicare, and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program account for about 65% of the budget.

The budget is about 6 Trillion US dollars (FY22). Take 65% of 6 Trillion and start multiplying it by CPI and you'll see why it's in their best interest to understate it, and understate it greatly. If it were calculated higher, they'd have to borrow more than the $1.9 Trillion that they already are. To pay for a single year.

https://www.thebalance.com/u-s-federal-budget-breakdown-3305...

If you look at the debt chart, you'll notice it basically starts growing, and growing exponentially, around 1970, when Nixon took the US off the gold standard and going to a fiat currency with no real backing other than the gov'ts word, and the people believing in it. That's waning.

https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/GFDEBTN/