"Chipping away at the national debt" is only appropriate during boom times. During downturns the government must spend as the private sector is usually not spending. But the real problem we need to confront is wealth disparity and underinvestment in public infrastructure. Letting the Bush tax cuts expire will, at a minimum, help to reduce rate at which disparity is increasing, if it occurs.

At present most of the money being spent by the US Government is either going to the military or to the financial sectors, both of which are black holes for wealth. Staving off financial collapse via current means only increased wealth disparity. In response to crisis the US is squandering its resources by incurring ever increasing debt for socially harmful purposes.

As the Dutch said while fighting the Spanish: "It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."