1.   And with the outstanding publicly held debt declining, the government would have no real need to borrow in a few years.

2.   But the long years of accruing deficits drove up the publicly held debt, which does not include money owed to Social Security and other federal trust funds.

3.   By reducing publicly held debt, taxpayers could save hundreds of billions of dollars in interest payments over time.

4.   It is the publicly held debt that is targeted for extinction.

5.   Reducing the publicly held debt would make it easier for the federal government to borrow money in the future to meet future demands for Social Security.

6.   Reducing the publicly held debt would put downward pressure on interest rates and free up capital for private enterprise to use in building new factories or developing new technologies.

7.   The chart generally shows the sharpest interest rate rises when publicly held debt was at its lowest levels as a percentage of GDP.

8.   The enormously effective performance of the economy presents the government with a golden opportunity to reduce publicly held debt, he said.

9.   The result is a rising overall surplus, which will be used to reduce the publicly held debt.

10.   The result has been a modest shrinkage of publicly held debt.