Despite it’s usefulness in certain cases, a lot of people just can’t seem to handle debt: your friend, your girlfriend, your neighbor, your company, even your country (e.g. Ireland, Portugal, or Greece). But when it’s the US, the largest economy in the world, that is at risk of defaulting on its debt, you take notice.
There’s nothing new in the US being in debt really. However, it has already reached the so-called debt ceiling. More easily understood as a credit card limit for really big spenders. Unfortunately, the government is spending so much that its salary can’t pay for its spending and its credit card bills without having to borrow. Talk about spending beyond your means.
So definitely the government needs to earn more (taxes), spend less (budget cuts), and if possible, get a credit line increase (debt ceiling). Coming from the recent recession, increasing taxes and decreasing spending to the level that there’s no need to borrow will be counterproductive. Thus, it hinges on borrowing more. All the discussion on the hill is more on how to best address the budget deficit: how to earn more and spend less.
But the ceiling has to be raised. If not, we’re screwed.