“It’s exploded, not because of war spending; it’s exploded because of all the other government spending that is not funded…” Johnson said.

Johnson attributed the nation’s overall deficit problem to the growth of the federal government, which he said often takes the form of well-intentioned initiatives that create negative unintended consequences. For example, in recent decades, Johnson said, the federal government has tried to increase college attendance by “throwing money” at students in the form of loans.

The average student now graduates college with at least $25,000 in debt, yet a recent study at Northeastern University determined that half of all recent graduates are unemployed or working jobs that require no degree at all.

“We have done a disservice to our children, all with the best of intentions,” Johnson said.

The nation has spent between $16 trillion and $20 trillion to fight the War on Poverty since the mid-1960s, but the overall percentage of Americans in poverty stands now about where it was in 1966, Johnson said. Meanwhile, in what Johnson termed an “uncomfortable truth,” the numbers of out-of-wedlock births and single mothers have soared in the face of a benefit system in which single parents are often financially better off not working.