Short-Term and Long-Term Debts and Deficits

Henry Blodget asks a question:

Buzzup Finance - Our Questions For Paul Krugman, Brad DeLong, Niall Ferguson, And The Tea Party: How are we going to work our way out of our long-term debt-and-deficit problem?  If you're going to point to the post-WW2 period as evidence that our projected debt-to-GDP ratio is nothing to worry about, please acknowledge that one fundamental difference between now and then is that overall debt-to-GDP (including consumer and private sector debt) is VASTLY...