At no point in our prior history has so much already been promised for the future, with revenues for 100 years from now already given away—and then some. Our would-be next presidents simply promise more, without indicating where the money is coming from. But what is it about the budget that creates such extraordinary imbalance at this point in history? There are five major budget errors or problems that have gotten us into this bind. Each has arisen in different ways over recent history, but all have intensified their pressure on the budget in recent years.