Both Parties To Blame For National Debt
Dear Editor,
The Treasury Department said the US will reach the debt limit (again!) on Jan. 19. So, before all the finger pointing by party leadership, let’s establish the basic truth: Overspending is not a political party problem. Both Democrats and Republicans have a long history of raising the national debt to what is again going to be a crisis to be politicized and left unsolved. First the history of debt increases by percent increase.
Top Five Increases by Percentage Increase:
1st Largest: 1,048% increase – Roosevelt (1933-1945). Added $236 billion to the existing $22.5 billion
2nd Largest: 723% increase – Woodrow Wilson (1913-1921). Added $21 billion to the existing $2.9 billion
3rd Largest: 186% increase – Ronald Reagan (1981-1989). Added $1.86 trillion
4th Largest: 101% increase – George W. Bush (2001-2009). Added $5.85 trillion
5th Largest: 74% increase – Barack Obama (2009-2017). Added $8.6 trillion
Other Big Adds to Deficit in Recent Years:
Trump – added $2.5 trillion pre-pandemic and $5.7 trillion post pandemic
Biden – added $2.4 trillion since taking office.
Total national debt limit is $31.4 trillion dollars for a nation that takes in $4.64 trillion or ~ 7x revenue. Not sure the US could be approved for a mortgage to purchase a house with that debt-to-income ratio.
I am not sure when the debt become a real crisis for us given the state of the overall global economy, but clearly we need solutions other than saying it is a liberal or conservative problem. It is an American problem. The only opinion I have to share in light of these facts is: 1) Using national debt limit and threat of US default is not a solution but would only cause great calamity across the already struggling global economy. 2) We need to start making changes today. And since both parties participated in the problem both should sacrifice their principles with both an increase in tax income and a reduction in entitlement spending. (Omnibus spending is but a very small fraction of the problem regardless of opinion expressed in the recent letter to the editor that had significant math errors.)
We need leaders, not political warriors to solve this issue before it becomes a problem too big to solve.
Christian Rice
News Flash – the debt is ALREADY too big a problem to solve with the politicians that are currently in office. They aren’t going to chance their ways, so we are destined to become a third world country.
The problem is now insurmountable. (See….Argentina).
Argentina is a very different situation but if the current republican house has their way to use economic ruin as a negotiating tool, we could go down that path I suppose. The key to our current ability to sustain our debt burden is confidence in the value of the dollar. Lose than and all is lost.
You should like a true mouth piece for the liberal democrat socialist party.
Nope. I just understand economics and valuation of currency. When they decoupled the currency, the economy crashed as the currency should never have been pegged to the US dollar. The US currency is heavily propped up by the massive size of our economy and the us of the US dollar and the standard currency for international trade. If the US loses that status, the dollar would be heavily devalued but nowhere as close as what Argentina faced.
You don’t seem to recognize (even though you present evidence) that the US is ruled by criminals enriching and empowering themselves. Party has little to do with it (even though the handful of well-intended fiscal conservative that do exist are all in the Republican Party).
The explicit 32 trillion debt is dwarfed by the unfunded liability of SS/Medicare. Bankruptcy (probably via inflation primarily) is inevitable.
Only hyper-inflation (debt-repudiation). The Argentine peso used to be pegged to the U.S. dollar (1=1). Argentina couldn’t pay their entitlements, and collapsed their economy, so they had to drop the convertibility. Now the peso is worth about 1/2 of one cent of a U.S. dollar (which has lost a lot of it’s value in the same amount of time). Look it up for yourself. 20+ year timeframe.
We will have to barter for necessities. Probably the only stable currency left could be the Swiss Franc. Does that mean having to buy Swiss assets? I should live that long.
All points made are very valid and the blame is dead on. Now We the People need to rally and do something about it. The problem is there is so much apathy among the people that I laughing call voters ( because they are aren’t) that there is not much of a chance of anything being done any time soon.
To reinforce the point made by Christian, if you don’t vote you can’t complain…and in this case you also can’t refuse to bend over.
And a personal note to Christian Rice, thank you for not pointing out I’m the one with the math problem. But in my defense, infantry paratroopers have trouble counting over 4, ROTFLMAO.
The country has been financing its spending with Social Security tax since LBJ was president. That is coming to an end. Now the taxes will have to pay for the normal budget plus supplement Social Security shortfall.
I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I agree with you 100%, Chris. The GOP and the Democrat Party are equally culpable.
We agree!
Hahaha. I guess the only ones who don’t agree with us are those with the power to actually change things but refuse.
Yes, I suspect you might be right again. I am heartily sick of Republicans who decry the outrageous profligacy of the Federal Government, but go along with the extravagance once they get to DC.
It’s sickening.
This country came within ONE VOTE of a Balanced Budget Constitutional Amendment in the late 1990’s while Newt Gingrich’s “Contract With America” was trying to be implemented. The one holdout, who vacillated for as long as he could, so as to get continued nationwide camera face time, was former KKK Grand Wizard Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia (Democrat).
If any one individual is responsible for our current financial mess, it is that dyed-in-the-wool Democrat.
What a creep he was. And he failed this country.
Look at the crap pork put into the budget, and it is easy to see why, and how we are in such debt. Some of the most inane requests, to numerous to name here, that gets allocated. Do due diligence and see for yourselves.
California is a great example of a liberal broke start with democrat leadership but now are proposing to give all qualified blacks ( qualified =all) 5 million in reparations and that’s only the tip of the
iceberg. Soon coming to a state near you just bend over and smile
‘Pork’ spending is typically less than 1% of the 4 trillion+ annual tax revenue. The parties use that as a distraction from the real issue of unfunded tax cuts, ballooning military spending and entitlement programs.
The problem is NOT undertaxation, but overspending.
Reagan, Bush and Trump all implemented unfunded tax cuts that failed to generate anything close to the offsetting economic revenue gains they promised and added close to half of the current national deficit. Trickledown economics was a massive failure.
But overspending IS the other half. What do you propose we cut? Military Spending, Federal Pensions, Medicare, Social Security?
To be fair, Reagan’s tax cuts created an economic boom and a huge increase in Federal tax revenue – but the Democratic Congress spent it faster than it could come in.
The blame lies at the feet of the Democrats.
Let’s start with all the perks that the senators and house members get for life once in office. Cut all benefits for all staff associated with such once they leave office ( Term Limits) including secret service protection for
Ex presidents if some country kidnaps any of them great. The US will pay you not to bring them back everything they know other countries already know so what use are they.