Actually, those figures are wrong, or at least outdated. I have kept a running tally of the debt by President for several years now. I used to use to to rail against Bush on the GOP threads. They hated me for it, because it spotlighted the lie that the Dems were responsible for the debt. Now, these same figures under Obama are starting to make the Dems look worse. Still the Dems are only responsible for 40% of the debt, but they are catching up to the GOP fast. Here's the latest data from Treasury Direct as of 1/24/2012:
US Debt Debt Increase
In Billions Percentage
20-Jan-81 $908
20-Jan-89 $2,602 187% Reagan
20-Jan-93 $4,188 61% Bush Sr
20-Jan-01 $5,728 37% Clinton
20-Jan-09 $10,627 86% Bush Jr
24-Jan-12 $15,236 43% Obama
Now, here's the shocker. It took Bush Jr 8 years to increase the debt by $5 trillion. It's only taken Obama 3 years. But then again, that's the law of compounding working against Obama.
I think we should all understand how perilous our situation is. This idea that deficit and debt don't matter is the single most dangerous thing threatening the future prosperity of this country. |
