>OK, so the debt help by the public went down while the overall debt continued to go up. Debt is debt no matter how you spin it. My VISA card debt went down last month by $100 but my MASTERCARD debt went up $125. Geeze don't I feel better now?

I think with that analogy, it may be more applicable to say that although your debt went up a net $25, it had been going up by a much faster amount before. And in that time period, you took in more than you spent for the first time in a long time, and used some of that surplus to pay your debt.