(Archived document, may contain errors) TAMING THE FEDERAL SPENDING MONSTER by Lewis K. Uhler We have reached a milestone in federal fiscal irresponsibility: the cash debt of the United States now exceeds the total value of the shares traded on U.S. stock exchanges. In o ther words, if we were to sell all U.S. stock market-traded stocks, which Forbes has calculated to have a current value of about $2.2 trillion, it wouldn't be enough to pay off the national debt. And there are other ways to put the national debt in perspe ctive:
Republicans in the House and Senate are unveiling a new proposal that would force the White House to offer its own plan for spending cuts as the debt limit fight heats up/