A recession is not the point at whcih debts should be paid back. The state should focus on job creation strategies  It would be the height of irresponsibility for the US government to even think about giving anything a higher economic priority than the creation of jobs at a time when unemployment is running at 9.1%.  It is essential that the federal government uses its economic muscle to get Americans working again rather than settling fairly obscure points of economic theory.  Taking money out of the system will cost jobs and hurt business, it will also lead to redundancies in the public sector. Ultimately it would be self-defeating. Admittedly, the Bush regime should have been running the economy at a surplus but it didn’t and that is the reality that the current government needs to deal with.