Balance, yes. There's a limit to how much debt we can incur before lenders decide that it's too risky to lend money to the US. There's also the fact that as the

Balance, yes. There's a limit to how much debt we can incur before lenders decide that it's too risky to lend money to the US. There's also the fact that as the US borrows money the overall cost of credit for everyone else goes up. So, let's balance the budget and cool down the borrowing. Payoff the debt, no. Paying the debt would have a negative impact on the overall economy. Money that would normally go to improve the economy would be used to pay down the debt. Money is what powers the economy so we don't want the negative balance that paying off the debt would have on the economy. Also, money that would go to payoff the debt would have to be taken directly from government services, greatly impacting people. The US has paid off the debt once(?) during Andrew Jackson's presidency, which didn't last long, but doing so brought on a nasty recession that almost immediately caused the government to go back into debt. We would see the same happen again.