National debt ceiling 101: Is a crisis looming?

9. What's the solution to the problem of rising national debt?

Brendan McDermid/Reuters/File
A man dressed as a panhandling Uncle Sam stood in New York’s Times Square in 2009, one of a dozen who did so to protest the scope of US national debt.

The answer is serious moves to cut federal deficits in the long term, say budget experts in both major parties. Entitlement and tax-system reforms are expected to be centerpieces of any solution, but progress could come in small steps as well as big ones. With or without help from the debt-ceiling debate, the question is whether the needed political statesmanship will arrive before a debt crisis – a spike in interest rates or a credit-rating downgrade – forces the issue.

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