I'm
not meaning to be political at all so apologies if this offends, but
this helps clarify for me the hole the US has dug for itself regarding debt.


Of course, it's a simplification and isn't exact (for
instance, the interest rate on a credit card is much higher than
interest on the national debt), but it does help me get some
perspective. I have a hard time imagining so many billions and trillions of dollars.

I did not create this image, but the numbers are accurate as far as I can tell. For reference, see:

http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxfacts/displayafact.cfm?Docid=200

and

http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock/ (the actual national debt is now above 15 trillion)

I think many budget 'cuts' are actually reductions in future spending growth, not a real reduction in spending.

And, it should probably be mentioned that other countries are in much worse shape than the US.