The U.S. national debt has reached $37 trillion. To keep the federal government from exceeding its congressionally mandated debt ceiling and continue to pay its bills, the U.S. Department of Treasury is using what it calls “extraordinary measures” (also known as accounting manipulations) to prevent the government from falling over its fiscal cliff. Without congressional action, it may occur in late summer.

The recently proposed spending bill by the House (labelled the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act”) does nothing to address the budget deficits that have plagued our nation for decades. Members of both parties are culpable for such irresponsibility. If the U.S. government were a private-sector company, it would have filed for bankruptcy long ago to wash away its debt. But bankruptcy is not an option for sovereign nations, and "default" is an ugly word. And the Treasury can always print money to pay the government's bills, although that runs the risk of creating inflation problems that the Federal Reserve has worked diligently to avoid.

If the U.S. is to get its fiscal house in order, cutting federal spending alone is not the answer. Any such cuts must be accompanied by investments to increase gross domestic product, currently

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