There is a ton of low-hanging fruit that could lower the debt that would result in little to no austerity. Carried interest/corporate tax avoidance, means-test social security, remove needless subsidies for fossil fuels or corn/sugar that add to health costs, or eliminate PBM formularies and enable medicare drug negotiation and fraud reduction. Maybe a few hundred billion right there.
Long term reforms to make education and healthcare outcomes focused, punishing administrative overhead and rewarding performance. Similarly defense could be massively downsized IMO to just expendable drones and submarine based nuclear deterrence, we don't need a 'triad' - one ballistic sub can basically end the world. Replace defense contracts with guaranteed purchase orders and let the private markets figure out how to do hypersonics or missile defense.
Long term reforms to make education and healthcare outcomes focused, punishing administrative overhead and rewarding performance. Similarly defense could be massively downsized IMO to just expendable drones and submarine based nuclear deterrence, we don't need a 'triad' - one ballistic sub can basically end the world. Replace defense contracts with guaranteed purchase orders and let the private markets figure out how to do hypersonics or missile defense.