How do you fix a problem like the national debt?

When you hear the phrase "national debt", do you cringe a little? Or do you roll your eyes and accept it? Or do you watch it as it looms over your head, as Poe's narrator did in "The Pit and the Pendulum"?
No matter how we react to the national debt, it's still alive and well, and it is in dire need of a solution. The most intelligent politicians in the country can't figure it out (or those that can are largely ignored). So the real question is: how do you fix a problem so big?

And the answer is simple: jobs.

It's common sense that people won't buy the country's goods if they can't afford them. And why can't they afford them? They have no jobs. The policy of mercantilism goes on the prospect that the most prosperous country produces more (exports) than it takes in (imports). If we have more people producing goods (or even buying the products), the economy will no doubt resurrect itself.

But is that the only thing that we need to do? Certainly not. In fact, there's a list spanning the whole continent with reasons why our economy's bad. I'd say that, as a country, we need to get on that.

How about you?