I’m obviously having a "graph day." I usually post the National Debt as a percentage of the GDP, which corrects for inflation [the lower figure]. However, the upper figure [the absolute national debt] has a meaning of its own:
That level line in the upper figure that runs from about 1948 until 1981 means that there was no deficit spending. The National Debt is, after all, the Expenses Minus Revenues. Then came Reagan/Bush and Deficit Spending. Clinton balanced the Budget. Then came Bush Junior and more Deficit Spending.
This makes the current Republican claims of run-away spending even more ludicrous. Their tax cuts had disastrous consequences. They are claiming that Obama’s Deficit Spending is just Democrats-as-usual rather than a desparate attempt to head off a Depression like that of the 1930’s. That’s simply not true. If anyone abused Deficit Spending, it was Reagan/Bush/Bush! How is that different from a Ponzi Scheme?
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