No one cares about the deficit. It’s just a talking point.

The Republicans are willing to shut down the government over it, and set it up such that they get to have this battle over and over again just to make the point.

How does temporarily shutting down the government help the deficit? When they had all three branches of government they didn’t do squat about the deficit, in fact they cut taxes making it worse.

The Democrats don't care about the deficit at all. The Republicans also don't care about the deficit, except when they're not the predominant party. Then all they do is talk about the deficit.

Debtors really don't care about the deficit. There's not a lot of places to park large quantities of cash. Even if the US Treasury was offering a measly 1% most bond buyers would still take that over any higher yielding riskier debt. It still confounds the typical US taxpayer that other countries buy our sovereign debt because that is how they insure their currency.

You are correct that Republicans only talk about the deficit. When it comes to financing more deficit spending, the House Rs keep passing debt limit increases and CRs to kick the can down the road. Yes, it is all talk and the actions are more spending.