Balanced Budget and Federal Deficit

Walter Williams discusses, very briefly, two worrisome aspects of the U.S. economy in an article last week. He talks about the federal deficit. He claims that people say the deficit is a way to borrow against the future, but he says different. Really, the government potion of spending ($2.4 trillion) is "crowding-out" private investment and spending. He cites some interesting examples.

He also doesn't like the idea of a balanced budget. If the government spent $6 trillion and taxed us $6 trillion to pay for it, would that be better than a $2.4 trillion spending paid for by $2 trillion in taxes (leaving a $0.4 trillion deficit, of course)? His solution (and mine because I agree with him) is to cut spending overall, but we all know that isn't likely to happen.