Well the idea of borrowing is that you use the money in useful ways (yeah, I know that is debatable with the government). It'd be splendid if we could pay for e

Well the idea of borrowing is that you use the money in useful ways (yeah, I know that is debatable with the government). It'd be splendid if we could pay for everything out of cashflow (tax receipts), but things like wars and economic crises come along and require borrowing in big lumps. You could ask the same thing of any borrower... "wouldn't all that money spent servicing your mortgage or bond issue be better used elsewhere?" ... to which they would reply: "but that mortgage bought me a house, that bond issue allowed us to expand overseas". As for honorable, that is just misleading. The people loaning money to the government aren't victims, they are earning interest on a (virtually) risk-free investment. The national debt is not an expropriation of private capital... T-bills are offered for sale and buyers agree to their terms voluntarily.