[adamjb]

>Politicians will never win votes by promising to reduce govt debt.

Huh, what? Promises to balance the budget or run a surplus are practically a cliche at this point.

[BitwiseFool]

But how many politicians actually follow through on such promises? Do they ever get in trouble for failing to do so? In the United States at least, none of them ever get punished by losing their seat when they fail to cut spending.