We don’t. We borrow from the Chinese and basically so called “conservative” Republicans want to borrow more from Beijing.
Yeah, that’s the ticket to reelection in 2012!
We do.
We have enough money coming into the US Treasury to pay the major entitlements (SS, Mediscare) and the interest on the US debt.
What we don’t have is enough to discretionary spending, which includes all the grab-bag projects and pork barrel stuff, law enforcement and military spending.
The difference between them is this: to not pay the interest on the national debt results in default. That’s a “default event.”
Not paying the FBI/ATF/etc, or pulling the US military out of foreign lands.. that’s not a “default event” on the US debt.
They might be bad outcomes, but they’re not a “default.”