[Drew]

Good post, KTOG.

On the national level, it makes sense. But what you are leaving out of the equation is the fact that the world economy is literally dependant upon national debt. If all national debt were wiped clean, the world economy would collapse on itself.

What you have to keep in mind is that yes, we have the largest national debt in the world. But we have a juggernaut for a GDP and are owed more than three times our debt, which is obviously more than any other nation. So our GDP-to-Debt Ratio is much, much smaller than a lot of other nations.

Because of the current state of the world economy (grossly unbalanced trade agreements [i.e., our $100 billion trade defecit with China due to our removing almost all restrictions while they allow almost none of our product], bankrupted countries [i.e., practically every Eastern Bloc nation]) it is nearly impossible to run a country without having a debt.

As it stands, the United States of America is literally the deep-pocketed parent keeping several countries afloat. Be it by monetary aid, funding their military, our own military operating as a peacekeeping force, etc. We are also - by a huge margin - the largest benefactor of the UN and contribute - by an equally large margin - the most soldiers to its cause. Factor in military operations, social policies, etc and we are easily spending more than we earn because other nations aren't paying off their debt to us. It gets much more complicated, and I don't care to waste it on ears that aren't going to understand the more advanced theoretical models behind national debt as it relates to world economics.

The only way for us to engage in a fiscal strategy that would eliminate debt - without destabilizing the economy, Mr. Clinton, thank you very little - would be to return to a state of isolationism, wherein we withdraw all troops from all regions of the world, withdraw all support - both personnel and funding - from the UN, and cease all aid programs to other nations. In less than a decade, we would have entirely eliminated the national debt and accumulated more real wealth than has been seen since the Holy Roman Empire. Unfortunately, this would send a dozen or so third world countries into civil war without our troop support, halt more than half of the scientific research being done to find cures for terminal diseases and afflictions, strip the UN of a huge portion of its budget, not to mention taking its headquarters and turning its peacekeeping force into a group about as effective as a bike cop in Compton, not to mention destabilize the world economy and create a situation where the United States literally rules the world.