[mikeash]

We were on track to pay off the debt 20 years ago. The debt is substantially higher now but nothing has fundamentally changed.

[Matticus_Rex]

The difference between what it takes to pay down a moderate debt and what it takes to pay down a truly massive debt is a fundamental difference.

[mikeash]

The debt is about 3x higher in real dollars, and about 2x higher relative to GDP. That doesn’t seem like the sort of change that would take you from “moderate” to “truly massive.”