RE: Krugman and US debt

$500 billion is the figure I see, but I think there's a distinction between deficit and national debt. Deficit is the annual budget over-spend (i.e difference between tax revenues and expenditure). National debt is the aggregate of budget deficits and all the government's other long-term debts, such as war bonds, accrued over years and years.

If you go here, you can make a contribution to paying off the US National Debt!!