[Gunnair]

Quote:

Kelly McParland:

Here’s an interesting chart, based on Congressional Budget Office numbers, which isn’t new but takes on an added curiosity value given the debt debate in the U.S.

It tracks the U.S. national debt as a percentage of GDP. At the moment it’s close to 100%, the highest since Franklin Delano Roosevelt was president, which is the reason for so much of the anger directed at Washington. Americans are justifiably worried that their political “leaders” are spending them into serious long-term trouble.

But look at who the big borrowers have been. Irresponsible leftwing tax-and-spend Democrats? Uh, no.

From Harry Truman through Jimmy Carter, every single president after World War Two managed to leave office with a lower debt than when they entered (the brief Ford administration had little impact either way). When Carter left office the debt was just 32% of GDP, which any government would give its right arm for these days. The huge (and we mean huge) buildup began with Ronald Reagan, hero of Tea Partiers everywhere, who bushed it up more than 20 percentage points in his two terms, to 53% of GDP. George Bush the First added 13 percentage points in just one term, before Clinton managed to shave it back down again. Then came Bush the Second, who really did some damage, adding almost 30 points, so by the time he left office the U.S. debt was 84% of GDP.

Reagan and the first Bush between them almost doubled the debt left behind by Carter. The two Bushes alone have increased the size of the debt, compared to the country’s annual production, by almost half.

So, obviously the current crisis is Barack Obama’s fault.

If Obama continues spending at the same rate as his first two years, which seems unlikely given the current political climate and the fact that much of his profligacy was intended as an emergency measure to slow the Great Recession, he could easily match or surpass previous big spenders. If he does, he would be the first Democrat since Roosevelt to leave office with a higher debt than when he entered.

And the next Republican president to lower the debt will be the first since Richard Nixon.

National Post

http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2011/08/03/kelly-mcparland-the-embarrassing-republican-record-on-debt/

[Unsound]

Interesting little read. I look forward to seeing the rebuttals...

[Psudo]

Ronald Reagan called for smaller government, but only accomplished lower taxes. Despite promises from Democratic legislators, the other shoe never dropped. It's true that the size of the national debt mostly goes up when Republicans are in the White House and down with Democrats. It's also true that the size of the national debt goes down when Republicans control Congress and up when Democrats do.

So, which party is to blame? It depends which branch of government controls the purse strings, executive or legislative. Constitutionally it's supposed to be legislative, but it's not really that simple. Reagan got his tax cuts after all.

Also, it's interesting how under George W. Bush the debt pretty much leveled off before the fiscal crisis hit. They figured out how to pay for those wars and tax cuts without major deficit spending.

[bootlegga]

Good find Gunnair!