If a credit card company refuses to raise your limit, that is not a default. A default is when you stop making payments on your debt. As long as the government has enough tax income to pay interest on its debt, there is no default. Calling it a default is a scare tactic to get their credit card limit raised.
The solution is for governments to spend only the tax revenue they receive - no more. Not only should the debt ceiling not be raised, it should be slowly lowered to zero over the next 10 years. If the government had to explain to everyone how much their taxes would need to be raised in order to invade Syria, etc., people might actually pay attention. Just my opinion.
This is a bit confused. The US needs to pay about 0.5 trillion interest a year, or 1/5th of tax revenue. They borrow about 0.5 extra per year (which is why the budget ceiling needs to go up).
If the US wanted to instantly achieve a balanced budget, they would have to spend 3/5ths the current amount. When a government cuts the amount it spends, it shrinks the economy, and reduces tax take.
In the UK, a limited form of this strategy seems to be working, but in Southern Europe, a strong 'austerity' strategy is creating a spiral of reducing tax take (requiring ever greater cuts).
So the sharp reduction in the deficit you mention is not possible. It would need to be gradual.
The elephant in the room is that, in the US, China, and Europe, the aging population is coming. As the proportion of contributors to consumers of public spending shifts, more debt is inevitable. It's going to suck pretty bad for everyone, but if we (all of us) can't achieve a balanced budget before that hits, then things are not going to be as gentle.
The best solution might be to spend only the tax revenue they receive; however, the idea is purely theoretical because they are not going to do that.
Currently government isn't able to pass a "normal budget" much less a very radically changed budget + huge and rapid changes in government agencies - if USA doesn't rise the debt ceiling, the actual effect will be not paying the interest due which is called a default.
If a credit card company refuses to raise your limit, that is not a default. A default is when you stop making payments on your debt. As long as the government has enough tax income to pay interest on its debt, there is no default. Calling it a default is a scare tactic to get their credit card limit raised.
The solution is for governments to spend only the tax revenue they receive - no more. Not only should the debt ceiling not be raised, it should be slowly lowered to zero over the next 10 years. If the government had to explain to everyone how much their taxes would need to be raised in order to invade Syria, etc., people might actually pay attention. Just my opinion.