Difference between deficit, debt

I’m under the impression that there are many Americans, including President Obama, that don’t know the difference between the deficit and the debt. If you had a credit card with a $5,000 balance (i.e., debt) and your next bill was $1,000 but you only paid $400, your next bill would show a balance/debt of $5,600. Obama keeps (and many in the media) keep talking about reducing the deficit. That will not do any good in the long run. It will only protract the time it takes for this country to go broke. The only way to reduce the debt is to run a surplus, a concept nobody in D.C. seems capable of comprehending.

Herb Hupfer

Kildeer