Answer for Michael Lewis and His Questioners

Michael Lewis, great author, did an "Ask Me Anything" on Reddit.com. Here's one of the questions and his answer (in pink).

I think there's a solid answer to 3.

In 1993, Bill Clinton and the Congressional Democrats passed a budget which led some years later to a balanced budget with small surpluses for the future. It required 50 Dem senators and Veep Gore to pass it. The Republicans taunted Democrats who voted for the legislation. They had been telling people it would ruin the economy. It was successful, though, and Newt Gingrich even joined-in when he became Speaker of the House of Representatives.

When W Bush was elected, they blew it all up for tax cuts to their rich benefactors (many of whom depend on US debt for the huge wealth they've accumulated, but have no uses for).

Democrats realized the pointlessness of tackling the debt and have ignored it since. Dems fight for power and hope one day the Republicans will return to sanity and unite with us to solve problems like "the debt".

One can expect that if the Democrats get sufficient power in Congress and the presidency, that they will return to working on that issue.