U.S. National Debt: 53-Yr High

The gross national debt compared to GDP (how rich we are) reached its lowest level since 1931 as Reagan took office. It skyrocketed for 12 years through Bush I. Clinton reversed it at a peak of 67%. Bush II crossed that line on Sept. 22 and hit 69% on Sept 30. That's the highest it's been since 1955 (53 years ago).

Bush did three things to skyrocket the debt from $5.7 trillion to $10 trillion:

1. He lowered taxes on the rich (by far the biggest item).
2. He invaded Iraq instead of winning in Afghan-Pakistan (another $600 B).
3. He loosened controls on Wall Street.

As it happens, McCain backed all three policies: (1) He backed Bush's tax cuts for the rich and now wants to give them bigger tax cuts. (2) He was gung-ho for the Iraq war from the start. (3) When Katie Couric asked Sarah Palin to name one time McCain suggested regulating Wall Street, she couldn't—because he never did. He crowed in the Wall Street Journal how he was always against regulation.

Obama opposed the first two and said Wall St. needed regulating.

(Sources for graph.)

National Debt Clocks and Savings Clocks

The debt's a problem, but we fixed a worse one before!

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Truman, Ike, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, and Carter wiped out most of the World War II debt. Take a look.

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Two parts of the federal government are running big surpluses.

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We hit a 53-year high for debt as a percent of the economy (GDP).

The eye-popping $10 trillion gross national debt is owed by the "General Fund." That's the part funded by our income taxes. Half of that goes for the military and to pay interest on the debt. Fortunately, two huge parts of the budget, Social Security and Medicare, are running huge surpluses.

	Accumulated Debt/Savings	In the last # secs.
Borrowed by the General Fund	– $ #*	$ #
Income: Income taxes. Outgo: Defense 30%, Interest 19%, ...
Saved by the Social Security Trust	+ $ error	$ error
Income: FICA Payroll taxes. Outgo: Benefits and disability
Saved by other Gov. Trust Funds	+ $ #	$ error
Income: FICA & gas taxes. Outgo: Medicare, highways, etc.

Debt Held by the Public (net debt)	– $ error^†	$ error

* Gross National Debt † Debt Held by the Public Debt Clock Source Data

How Do the General and Trust Funds Get their Money?
For The General Fund: All personal and corporate income tax.
For Social Security Trust Fund: Payroll taxes on wages up to $102,000 (2008).
For Medicare: Payroll taxes on all wages. (Medicare is the big part of "other.")


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http://zfacts.com/p/461.html | 10/13/08 22:28 GMT
Modified: Sun, 12 Oct 2008 20:41:56 GMT

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