Government debt

The national debt of the United States of America is in the trillions of dollars and going higher.

I am confused! Yeah, yeah, I can hear you agreeing but that's not quite what I mean. I am a business man. I run my business based upon the amount of money that comes in from sales or investments. If I spend too much the business ceases to exist. Every day we read about companies that are going bankrupt. They spent more than they took in. Some companies used a type of bankruptcy that protected them from creditors while they got their act together and cut expenses enough to pay their debt. Others simply closed the doors, sold everything at auction and the debt got paid with pennies on the dollar. What is the United States Congress going to do? They are in charge of the countries finances. Nobody wants to be blamed for doing what they need to do.

Everyone from every part of our government screams that they can just barely do with the amount of money they receive from the tax coffers. None of them has volunteered to take a reduction of funds and tighten their belt to make it all work within the budget. Not one! When the opposing political parties try to negotiate they get stuck on which favorite department gets special treatment. That's the part I am confused about.

If a business spends 10% too much, they usually decrease spending "across the board" by 10%. All parts of the business feel the pinch. no matter how much they scream, all areas join in the process. Why can't our government do that? Everyone would have to make do with a certain percentage of funding loss. Old, young, rich, poor, everyone would feel the pinch. Probably most of our congressmen and women would be voted out at the next election but at least we'd have a balanced budget. It doesn't look like that scenario is going to unfold any time soon but then again, maybe it will. I just probably don't understand how government spends our money. That's probably why I'm confused.