Government Revenues, the Debt, and GNP: 1982-9
A nice comparison is the measure of the debt and deficit against our GNP, widely regarded as the best measure of our indebtedness. Because our revenues are tied to GNP (Note: we now use GDP, a slightly different measure) our relative indebtedness can be determined as a percentage of that figure.
GNP, Budget Deficits and Relative Change
In billions of dollars except percents
Fiscal Year GNP Deficit %GNP Debt %GNP % Change
1982 3130 127.9 4.1 1147.0 36.6
1983 3325 207.8 6.2 1381.9 41.6 5.0
1984 3688 185.3 5.0 1576.7 42.8 1.2
1985 3958 212.3 5.4 1827.5 46.2 3.4
1986 4177 220.7 5.3 2129.5 51.0 4.8
1987 4442 148.0 3.4 2354.3 53.0 2.0
1988 4771 155.1 3.2 2614.6 54.8 1.8
1989 5201 152.0 2.9 2881.1 55.4 0.6
Source: American Almanac, United States Budgets, et al.
As can be seen, the deficit spiked early, then declined sharply in the second term of Reagan's presidency. Our debt increased by about 18.8% (GDP) and 51% relative to the previous level (18.8 being about half of 36.6), a far cry from the doubling, tripling, or quadrupling that some claim.
Note that since spending (in nominal dollars) has increased faster under Bush and Clinton than Reagan, liberals are falling back to the proper measure of indebtedness (as a % GDP) while trying to continue to attack Reagan solely on nominal dollar increases.
A fiscal year runs from October-September. The 1982 fiscal year, for example runs from October, 1981 to September, 1982. This can make tables like the above appear a bit confusing at first. The 1982 fiscal year is Reagan's first budget year, so we use the fiscal years 1982-9 to demonstrate how deficits and debt changed during his terms in office.
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