"Governments cannot create but merely redirect. When the government spends, the money has to come from somewhere. If the government doesn't have a surplus, then it must come from taxes. If taxes don't go up, then it must come from increased borrowing. If lenders won't lend, then it must come from the printing press, which is where all these bailouts are headed. But each additional dollar printed diminishes the value those already in circulation. Something cannot be effortlessly created from nothing."
---Peter Schiff
Hence to restate,
The government can only get money from three sources:
1. Taxes - Directly from the people's pockets. Painful for people. Painful for politician's popularity
2. Borrowing - This is what the U.S govt has been doing for so long. And moreover it has been rolling over its borrowing, i.e borrowing afresh to pay off old debt. And now it owes the world huge sums of money, to pay which its citizens will have to slog for years. Again painful
3. Printing Money - Painless in the short run. Extremely painful in the longer run as the paper currency keeps losing value if only person in the country is allowed to print money and spend it on non-productive initiatives.