That is precisely correct. Around this point in the 20th century, Federal expenditures were 6% of GDP, including 1% for defense. We are now spending 36% of GDP at the Federal level (including about 5% for defense). In other words, Federal non-defense expenditures have gone up from 5% to 31% in the past century.
If we zeroed out the defense budget, we'd still have a $700b a year budget deficit. The reason it's so huge is because Obama carried over what Bush expected to be one-time expenditures in 2008 in a vain attempt to boost GDP. In essence our budget deficit is caused by the moral equivalent of having people dig holes and fill them up again - paying unemployment benefits to people for years and expanding eligibility for welfare benefits.
No. It is both.
We are in hock to China. We have exported a majority of what used to be our exports - now they are imports.
That is a huge change. Exports were income. Imports are a drain on our income. A huge drain on our income. Now we do not have any income, we only spend.
We are going the wrong way.