The federal government is the world’s biggest taxer and the world’s
biggest debtor. If those of us in the private sector didn’t pay our taxes or
didn’t buy Washington’s paper, the feds would have gone belly-up
decades ago. We’ve rescued Washington to the tune of tens of trillions
of dollars over the years. A big difference between Washington’s bailing
out the private sector and the private sector’s bailing out Washington is
that the private sector has to work, invest, employ people, and produce
goods to come up with the cash. It can’t create it out of thin air like the Fed can.

-Lawrence Reed