Minor detail - the debt expressed as a percentage of the GDP has experienced temporary decrease.
Dam smoke ..
In this scenario, it seems temporary increases in GDP attempt to give way to the illusion of a decrease in debt.
Dam mirrors ..
No smoke and mirrors. A 1 million dollar debt for Bill Gates is a lot different than the same debt for Joe the Plumber. If we keep the current debt for 30 years and GDP catches up to it, then the debt has been effectively lowered. This is a very, very bad way to lower the debt, but it is a way to do it nonetheless.
As an aside, we may do well to review numbers. When we allow a dollar to represent a second, 1 million dollars is roughly equivalent to 12 days. Proportionately, 1 billion dollars/seconds is equivalent to roughly 32 years.
I am a microbiologist so I have a firm grasp on what large numbers of something look like.
Now many people when you explain this to them, will then guess that 1 trillion seconds is equivalent to roughly 64 years or so, which effectively demonstrates how we can - at times, perceive numbers from an arbitrary view point.
Strangely enough, 1 trillion bacteria is the number of bacteria in about 1 ml of culture media.