So here's the cool thing about being a nation-state.

[Recursion]

Debt, once acquired, does not need to be paid off, ever. Period.

I hope you guys get that. We have $17 trillion right now; the USG will probably never have less.

[Nuclear Unicorn]

1. Um. What?

Who would lend you money if they will never get paid back?

[Recursion]

3. Individual borrowers are always paid back

Perpetually, on time.

Even so, the debt is not paid down. Nor should it be.

[Nuclear Unicorn]

8. Did you mean borrowers or lenders?

Assuming you meant people lending to the government via treasury bonds, etc. if debt service exceeds tax receipts then lenders will get paid pennies on the dollar. No one buys bonds to lose money so the ability to borrow crashes(along with any government provided services that were dependent upon borrowing).

[Recursion]

11. I meant leanders

Good point.

[Spider Jerusalem]

2. You don't seem to understand how the whole issue of sovereign debt works

the government, or its central bank, issues bonds, Treasury bills, gilts, and so on...various debt instruments, paying a fixed percentage per annum and maturing in a fixed term (usually, 10 to 20 years). The whole of the principal and accrued interest is then due; in practice what usually happens is that these loans are effectively refinanced by being rolled over into new bonds/T-bills/whatever, because as long as the government honours its obligations and meets the schedule of interest and repayment it's seen as a low-risk investment. If there's a default, though? Then that low-risk investment becomes high-risk and financing deficit spending through debt becomes much harder if not impossible. It doesn't need to be paid off, but not meeting obligations has negative consequences. (See: Greece.)

[Recursion]

5. sigh. so by what date "must" our 16 billion be paid down?

You are confusing the debt for its instruments.

[Spider Jerusalem]

6. I never said that it must be.

But failure to meet the schedule of payments means that at the next auction of 10-year Treasuries there are fewer buyers. The perpetual-motion debt machine can't function if creditors aren't willing to take the risk of buying the debt of a government that may not keep up its end of the bargain.

[Recursion]

7. Certainly debt must be serviced. i never denied that.

But currently that's cheaper than literally holding cash.

[Bunnahabhain]

9. Unless there is a deflationary cycle going on

Debt is always more expensive than holding cash.

[uponit7771]

4. NOR.. NOR is it GOOD to pay off debt AND not invest in country. Right now we're investing in MIC and

...rich people because 30 years ago someone said giving a lot of the countries resources to the rch was good and will benefit the middle class

[LondonReign2]

10. Never say Never

IIRC, Clinton actually used a small part of the surplus in his last two years to either reduce the debt or schedule a debt reduction. The amount I believe was relatively small -- $225B sticks in my mind-- but still quite the improvement from where we are now. Ah, the good old fiscal days. Think where'd we be if Shrub hadn't gutted taxes while starting unfunded wars (and if Obama had simply let the tax cuts expire).