Gerstner says Invest America costs $3.7 billion annually, equivalent to one Patriot missile battery.
“So the total cost of this, 3,700,000 kids born a year, a thousand bucks each kid, $3,700,000,000. Just to contextualize that, that's about the cost of a single Patriot missile battery.”
Gerstner argues balancing the budget by 2029 requires reducing government spending 3% annually from $7T to $6T.
“Now you get there by simply reducing the size of government by about 3% a year for the next four years. Again, just still going from 5,000,000,000,000 in 2019 to 6,000,000,000,000 in 2029.”
Gerstner calculates that 4.9% revenue growth would produce a $450B surplus by 2029.
“If we grew revenues at the same rate that we have for the last twenty years, right, starting next year, which is 4.9% per year CAGR for twenty years, we would end up with a $450,000,000,000 surplus in 2029.”
Gerstner argues federal budget can balance in four years with modest 5-5-2% spending cuts and 3-4% revenue growth.
“So all that does is get you back to trend line from 2019 As though we increased spending 3% a year from 2019, the budget balances.”