[old republic]

Well at least in California they take out loans (bonds) to pay off their debt. Its kind of like using your credit card to pay off a credit card bill. The Federal Government does the same thing whenever it issues money. Instead of the Feds issuing money themselves, the Federal Reserve bank loans money to to the government on interest. Thus the government can never ever get out of debt because whenever it pays its debt back it uses loans to pay it.

[rottndog]

Yeah, but at least bonds have to be voted on by referendum, so there is at least the appearance of public oversight and accountability. However, I don't think that this is even legal, as it is an end run around the law that is supposed to prevent using bond funds to cover current spending.