Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. The response format is open.

Does it make any sense to directly contribute to reducing the US national debt?
The US national debt isn't the problem. If the Bush-era tax cuts had been allowed to expire then US debt would have been paid off reasonably quickly. The CBO’s “baseline” budget forecast,   which assumes that the cuts do indeed   expire as planned, sees the deficit   falling from 9.1% of GDP in 2010 to   2.5% in 2014. These are just the debts the US has already incurred. The problem is the future entitlements the US is promising to its soon-to-be-retired generation of Baby Boomers.  Medicare, health insurance, and so on are all future costs that can be calculated fairly accurately when considering the size and earnings of the work-force relative to the size, longevity and health of the newly-retired. Governments can "solve" the problems of entitlements simply be reneging on their promises. The concern that investors have is that either entitlements will be paid by raising taxes (and so cutting profits and investment returns) or countries will simply default on their existing debts as their tax receipts run out. As Europe has shown (from French workers rioting about having to retire at 62, to British students rioting about paying their tuition fees), breaking promises has consequences for elected politicians too. Europe is already going rather painfully through this process of economic restructuring.  The US will eventually come round as well.  Just don't expect it to be painless. So keep your money and invest it wisely.  No doubt that tax collectors will be round in a while to take their cut so you can make your contribution.