Where Did All That Debt Come From?

Soon and very soon, the government shutdown will go to crisis levels, or should I say higher crisis levels as the debate on the national debt debate comes to a head.

A long term Texas born Oklahoma raised conservative Republican and believed that Republicans wanted small government, shared her Christian values and were concerned about the safety of her country. The rotten Democrats on the other hand wanted to raise everybody’s taxes, were pro-abortion and wouldn’t protect the country.

Then she grew up and watched the myths of her youth crack. She realized the difference between national debt and federal deficit. The national debt is all the money we’ve borrowed over the years that we are paying back. The federal debt is how much we spend vs our much we take in.

The she read the data. In 2000 when Bill Clinton left office the national debt was 5.7 trillion. In 2008 under George W. Bush it became 9.6 trillion, doubling it in 8 years.

Then she studied administrations from 1945, with 7 democratic presidential administrations and 9 Republican administrations. She found that the Democratic presidents raised the debt on average 3.2% per year while the Republican presidents raised the debt on average 9.7% per year.

Now the material in this article is dated but her result are still valid, Republican raise more debt that Democrats often while claiming the opposite.

There is also the argument about the nature of debt and how it has been used. Moderate Republicans like Eisenhower used it well to benefit the country. FDR increased debt but saved the economy. Currently since Reagan debt raises come from not collecting enough taxes from the rich to cover our expenses, expense that Republicans often support; mainly military versus social programing. Good social programs lower debt by being proactive in the economy if folk figure that out as they generally have in Europe.

To get down to it, who raised the debt? Both parties but the Republican lead the race significantly. The young woman who came up with this information concluded, “Republicans are fiscally irresponsible. They spend more and increase the debt more than Democrats. Economies under Republican presidents are in general, weaker than economies under Democratic presidents.

Today is a new day when a small group of radical no compromise Tea Party types seem perfectly willing to destroy the economy to fight a program of historical significance showing that Americans at long last are willing to take care of the medical needs of all its citizens.

If you want to place blame for debt place in on the wars we have fought, both by Republicans (Iraq) and Democrats (Afghanistan). Most citizens understand thisl 60%. It is not the social programs (24%) that cause debt, it is war.

Proposals:

For greater detail on debt check out this ABC article

To see a breakdown of debt by President check here