Clearing the National Debt

If you woke up one morning and realized that you were extremely in debt and that the interest on that debt was extraordinary, you'd probably set about making a plan to pay down that debt.   You might look at setting up a plan over a ten year period whereby you'd cut back on frivolous and non-necessary things.   You also might seek a source of additional income to put towards that debt.
But, that's you...not our inept government.
If Washington really wanted to balance their budget and get rid of the National Debt (with its huge interest) they would look at the "big picture".   One thing that could be beneficial would be turning our vast desert into fertile farmland.   This has been done in parts of the Middle East by their moving biodegradable garbage into the desert and turning it into the sand, thus eventually ending up with a very fertile growing area.   This country produces so much biodegradable garbage that we could turn an entire state like New Mexico or Nevada into states that produce so many fruits and vegetables that they would not only meet the needs of America, but could probably export their products also.   Just the taxes from the production and salaries of the newly created farms would be huge.
This nation has huge areas with untapped mineral, gas and oil deposits.   There are two reasons why they're not being exploited.   Reason #1 is there are so many government regulations that it makes it either too costly or too much of a hassle to pursue.   Reason #2 is lack of infrastructure to get these commodities to processing plants and to the end users.   Building more railroads, pipelines and highways would not only make the transportation of these items viable, but put tens of thousands of people to work, thus increasing more income for the government.
So, by dropping the oppressive regulations and investing in the infrastructure over a ten year period could totally eliminate the National Debt, put almost everyone to work and pour more money into Washington than its ever seen before.
An additional plus would be that we would not only become independent from importing natural resources, but become a major exporter.
This is a win - win situation.......everyone is employed, our food supply becomes localized, we no longer rely on other countries for our commodities and the government pays off its debt and ends up "rolling in money".