You've been reading too much Krugman. The only reason we haven't seen any major problems with debt at this point is solely because of the bond markets have kept rates very low. When bonds start falling rates will rise and either taxes will have to go up to compensate or the government will have to cut spending somewhere. Right now, just a 1% rise for the US in rates would add another $100 billion in interest payments.
Guys like Bill Gross, who manages the worlds largest bond fund, have stated the super-bull bond cycle is over and to take note. If we go into a bear market with bonds, it could mean implosion for Italy, Spain, Japan, etc and will put a definite strain on the US.
1. Krugman recently cited that k_nt Naomi Kline favorably. He is dead to me.
2. No one is saying the debt isn't a problem at all -- all I'm interested in saying is that the current path is preferable to any further austerity in the short term, given the demonstrable effects of significant austerity in Europe and the IMF calling our deficit reduction efforts "overly strong" as is. Deficits matter, but not as much as jobs. Yes, spending will need to be cut somewhere.
3. Also, I think the CBO projection does include rising interest rates as an assumption, since it projects interest payments increasing significantly. But I'm not really sure that that is the case.
4. There still isn't any substantive research indicating our current or soon-to-be debt-to-GDP ratio is actively harmful to the economy; most people seem to simply intuit this conclusion. Maybe they're right, but I'd think the lack of evidence for the conclusion would give some pro-austerity persons pause. It doesn't, of course.