This is such an obvious question. Yet how many people on CNBC or MSNBC have ever answered it for you? You are left to assume that the US is such an incredibly efficient and hard working nation, that everyone trusts us to pay that debt off at some point in the future…. Right? Anyone? Bueller? (Ferris Beuhler’s Day Off reference for our non-US readers).

Under the new proposal, if the new legislative body, made up of six Democrats and six Republicans from both chambers, doesn't come up with a bill that cuts at least $1.5 trillion by Thanksgiving, entitlement programs will automatically be slashed.