Yes, We Do Have a Debt Problem

In mid-May, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) revised its previous estimate of the federal government’s 2013 deficit downward by 24 percent. The fiscal year (which ends on September 30) will feature red ink of merely $642 billion, down from the $1 trillion-plus of the previous four years, said the CBO. For many Democrats, this proved what they knew all along: The national debt is not a clear and present threat.
“We don’t have an immediate crisis in terms of debt,” President Barack Obama declared in an ABC News interview in March. “In fact, for the next 10 years, it’s going to be in a sustainable place.” In the same month and venue, Republican Speaker of the House John Boehner (Ohio) joined the president in a rare moment of agreement: “We do not have an immediate debt crisis,” Boehner claimed.

http://reason.com/archives/2013/07/16/yes-we-do-have-a-debt-problem