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Increases in the national debt: 1974 to the present

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This entry was posted on February 17, 2009, 2:33 pm and is filed under We're Doomed. You can follow any responses to this entry through RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

  1. #1 by Joe on February 17, 2009 - 3:35 pm

    I’m no fan of Republicans, but I am a fan of honesty in presenting information. The arrows are misleading and at least one important variable, the majority party in Congress, is not presented.

  2. #2 by Kevin Beck on February 17, 2009 - 3:40 pm

    Joe,
    That is addressed, albeit!!!! with a discomfiting number of exclamation points!!!!, at the bottom of the linked page.

  3. #3 by ksteiger on February 17, 2009 - 4:49 pm

    It’s true that Congress can change the budget, but the budget is first presented by the president, with only relatively minor tweaks provided by Congress.

  4. #4 by Orac on February 17, 2009 - 5:42 pm

    That is addressed, albeit!!!! with a discomfiting number of exclamation points!!!!, at the bottom of the linked page.

    Not well. For instance, the person who did the webpage neglected to mention that Republicans controlled Congress between 1995-2001–when deficits fell the most. The correlation he’s trying to make is not nearly as consistent as he represents it.

  5. #5 by A on February 17, 2009 - 6:33 pm

    “…., the majority party in Congress, is not presented.”
    Well, the Republicans are for fiscal responsibility only when they can impose it on a Democratic president.
    Also read on what the Republicans thought the Clinton economic program would do at
    http://www.congressmatters.com/storyonly/2009/2/15/92441/0913/399/636
    and a comment by piotr
    http://delong.typepad.com/sdj/2009/02/republican-prophecies.html?cid=6a00e551f08003883401116866f6b6970c#comment-6a00e551f08003883401116866f6b6970c
    explaining the Republican view of how the various deficits can be explained; I suspect we’ll hear this here soon, too.
    And in ten years, we’ll all be treated to copies of a whitehouse.gov web page (of last fall)which says that Pres. Bush presidency ended with the American people more prosperous than ever.–

  6. #6 by george.w on February 17, 2009 - 6:34 pm

    A democratic president and congress will soon blow the lid off this chart. Much as a fire company would break records for water consumption trying to put out a fire. Of course the ship was taking on water fast when the new captain took over… and it was on fire too.

  7. #7 by george.w on February 17, 2009 - 6:34 pm

    A democratic president and congress will soon blow the lid off this chart. Much as a fire company would break records for water consumption trying to put out a fire. Of course the ship was taking on water fast when the new captain took over… and it was on fire too.

  8. #8 by Comrade PhysioProf on February 17, 2009 - 10:00 pm

    If the total US GDP is about $14 trillion per year, then what is so frightening about a total national debt of about $11 trillion dollars?

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