Debt is least of your problems, Craig. The British Empire and American Empire were built on ever-expanding national debt. Borrowing paid for Wellington to defeat Napoleon, the Royal Navy to rule the seven seas, Halsey's fleet, Kaiser's Liberty ships, US financing of the Red Army and reconstruction of post-war Europe. Read the history of origin of national debt in England in 1692. Macaulay's History Volume IV page 259.

"The power of a society to pay debt is proportioned to the progress that society has made in industry, in commerce, and in all the arts and sciences which flourish under the benignant influence of freedom and of equal law. The inclination of a society to pay debt is proportioned to the degree in which that society respects the obligations of plighted faith." Page 265

Elites sucked the middle class into the notion that tax cuts stimulate capital spending by businesses, driving a wedge between the middle class and the poor. Spending is primarily influenced by GDP growth trends, interest and exchange rates and oil prices. Big business and finance is sitting on bags of money. In Canada business investment spending since the 80s has declined despite repeated tax cuts, while cash flow has increased. Most economists now are concluding that austerity is the wrong way to ending the recession.

The US is still the powerhouse of the world.