artk, the problem with this statement is (as the IMF is implicitly recognizing) that on the path we are on we are headed toward a day when we will not be able to service our debt or sell more of it.

We have a deficit that is 10% of GDP but we are borrowing at 1%. No other country would be able to do that and if the international financial markets suspect we are going the way of Greece our borrowing costs will soar, and we won’t be able to get out of the probem by printing money — any more than the Greeks can.

Long term, we need to show the markets we are dealing with the deficit, that means cutting entitlements, increasing revenue and increasing growth. In the end, as the world’s reserve currency and unlike the Eurozone having control of our currency we can always inflate our way out of it. We’ve had high inflation in the past and we can deal with it again if we have to. All the business and household analogies are so far off base they aren’t even wrong. Unlike every business, the US doesn’t have a capital budget. We expense aircraft carriers businesses depreciate equipment. Unlike you or I, the federal government can can print money. In the end, the amount of debt doesn’t matter, only the ability to service the debt and sell more debt when needed is all that matters.