US National Debt Clock

[cryowizard]

http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock/

Check out the inflation-adjusted graph of US National Debt in the second half of the 20th century! (source)



Look how flat it was between the end of WWII to about 1980! And that was through Korean War and Vietnam!!

What the fuck happened after 1983?? The debt has been skyrocketing since then. In 2006 US Government raised the National Debt Ceiling to 9T. When they fuck that up, they will raise it to 10T and will continue going until we owe the entire country to someone else.

You can also see that famed budget surpluses under Clinton barely made a dent, and even they happened only because the now sadly defunct bubble provided more revenue than the government could spend.

NO matter the president -- Reagan, Bush I, Clinton, Bush II -- same shit, over and over: the debt keeps climbing and climbing. Each one of us owes over 28K now.

When will the insanity stop? Fuck, who am I kidding.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

I've read several articles on the issue and I have to tell you: it's not nearly as straightforward as "the more debt - the worse" and it takes a degree in economics to understand all the implications.

[cryowizard.livejournal.com]

I dont intend to simplify at all.

But!

Correct me if I am wrong but from what I know the national debt is a sum of all budget deficits for the last 200-odd years. The reason why it is "debt" is because of deficit spending the government has to borrow (mostly by issuing securities), accumulating the debt over the years.

There are two problems with US national debt. First and foremost, it is a direct result of our Congress spending money like there is no tomorrow, and wastefully at that, no matter whether they are Republicans or Democrats. Second, 60% or our debt belongs to foreign entities, which is not good for economic security.

After WWII spike the debt there was a serious effort by all presidents -- Truman, Ike, Kennedy, Nixon, Ford, and Carter to reduce the debt. The debt started climbing when Reagan took office and never came back since.

[(Anonymous)]

Yes, no doubt government spendings are insane. But debt rises not only due to increased spendings but also decreased taxes. As far as I understand one of the premises of reaganomics was that we are better off borrowing more money from other countries and taxing our businesses less. Reasoning behind this was that taxes serve as brakes on economic development and removing some of those breaks will produce such an exponential rise in our economy that it will far outweigh the increased debt. Which is what I think has actually happened. Before Reagan the country suffered from economic stagnation, Carter's self-described "general malaise". By decreasing taxes (even while increasing military spendings) and lessening the extent of governmental involvment in economy Reagan gave it one mighty kick in the pants effects of which continue to this day. Clinton deserves a lot of credit for not fucking it up.

P.S. If you consider the fact that Reagan's policies helped win the Cold War, you'll understand why this guy is my (and a lot of other people's) favorite president ;)

rkatsyv

[(Anonymous)]

It is pretty much straightforward: "the more debt - the worse".
Also: "the higher the rate with which it's growing - the worse."

-LT.