I am not saying national debt is a good thing, but I think people misunderstand it to be like credit card debt or something.
As of June 2007, the U.S. owns 9.7 trillion in foreign bonds (both public and corporate) and other foreign debt.
http://www.ustreas.gov/tic/shlhistdat.html
National debt is another boogie man politicians use to try to get votes, because it sounds good to oppose. Just like it good to support campaign finance reform, or how they like to "protect family values", etc.
That being said, the debt is really high and imbalanced. The problem with today's national debt is that it isn't being invested into building infrastructure or other factors that contribute to our ability to repay it.
I would cite regulation, but I know you will simply ignore it.
