How should the US government deal with its rising national debt and associated interest payments?

Raise taxes (14%) – "America houses some of the most lucrative corporations and people in the world, but this deficit directly endangers services that the rest of us rely on (Social Security and Medicare). It’s time for the people and companies who have reaped unprecedented wealth on the backs of American workers to finally pay their share."

• "Tax cuts sound good when candidates are running for office, but we cannot keep increasing spending without also increasing the government's income. A wealth tax is needed, and has been needed for along time. This would not increase taxes for the "middle class", but would increase taxes for the 1%."

Cut spending (39%) – "The amount of money our federal government collects from us, and in turn spends, is outrageous. Until we elect politicians who are serious about reining in our spending addiction, we are headed for disaster."

• "You can’t spend your way out of debt. Government doesn’t produce anything. They get their money from others. It’s easy to spend someone else’s money. Stop with all the give away and take a hard look at necessities vs feel good programs. Get back to basics. Balance the budget by tightening the belt."

"In my opinion we should begin with the spending on government contracts which need to be looked at with a fine-tooth comb. The fees being charged by many, if not most of these companies needs to be closely regulated."

• "Cutting spending should be the first thing. That is what a reasonable person does when faced with this situation because you have to first stop the bleeding. Who will be the next Harry Truman? That is how he made his mark and rose to be VP: He led a crusade in Congress to dig up and expose any and all needless spending. Get your financial house in check before trying to find additional sources of income. And for goodness sakes, don't do things like cancel student debt because that will only move to the national debt. It is a nice but short-sighted thing to do."

Print more bonds/money to cover interest (8%) – "All of the other options come with side effects too costly to bear. This is our only solution for the time being, until our mindset around the national debt changes."

Some combination of the above (23%) – "Cutting expenses and raising taxes should be the goals, in order, of any legislative ir executive body that wants to lower our debt. In vs. Out; it's a very simple equation. Printing more money, as we have seen, contributes to heavy inflation. The difficulty is that we don't live in a national culture of frugality, and our needs and wants are only increasing at home and abroad. Trying to tax people further won't lead to a happy population, nor will cutting spending on social safety nets (the largest expense). And of course, we project soft and hard power through foreign aid, whether through Deptartment of State and affiliates or through the Department of Defense. Any cuts will have to sacrifice either power or comfort."

• "I think this will probably be the eventual undoing of the US if the folks in Washington don't quit playing their childish political party games and quid pro quo with big business with their short-term goals. They need to finally balance the budget. There are lots of things we would like to do, but first let us get to a balance budget, then we can see about paying down that debt."

"We need a better understanding of the difference between national debt and consumer debt, specifically the importance and even necessity of having national debt. At the same time, I don't think that means we shouldn't rein in our national spending. We should. But I don't think anyone really thinks about how difficult it would be to change how we as a country spend and all of the people who would be impacted by it. Because it's not gonna hurt the millionaires and billionaires -- it's gonna hurt the average citizen."

Nothing needs to be done (7%) – "Having some national debt is a good thing. As long as we don't keep adding to the debt at a breakneck pace, America will be okay."

Other/unsure (9%) – "Democrats and Republicans need to work together on this issue to come up with a viable solution rather than pointing fingers for political points. There is not an easy fix and unless they come together collectively and authentically, whatever solution one party decides won’t be long-lasting."