From across the Atlantic it sounds like US national debt is often brought up by Internet libertarians as to why the US can't afford basic healthcare and welfare

From across the Atlantic it sounds like US national debt is often brought up by Internet libertarians as to why the US can't afford basic healthcare and welfare for its citizens. It's manipulative strategy that takes advantage of people wrongly thinking that national debt is like personal debt. There are plenty of countries with higer national "debt" as % of GDP and with a higher quality of life than the US: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_external_debt https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_external_... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_public_debt https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_public_de...