The National Debt, GOP Lies, and Our Children

Sure, the GOP promises lower taxes for you and me but what the GOP hides is the fact that in exchange for lowering our taxes the GOP is going to saddle us (and even our children) with a massive debt that will take generations to pay off.

In 1982, under that shining star on a hill, Ronald Reagan amassed for the first time ever a national debt that exceeded $1 Trillion. The amount of the debt was unfathomable to almost everyone--$1 Trillion was now owed by American Taxpayers.
In the Keynesian economics theory, which the GOP strongly believes in, there is tolerance for fairly high levels of public debt to pay for public investment in lean times, which can be paid back with tax revenues that rise in the boom times. Well, right now there are two huge problems with that theory.

First, we are not getting anything tangible for our “public investment” right now. We are not getting improved roads, improved schools, improved healthcare, etc. Basically we are getting nothing for a LOT of something—our tax dollars.

Second, when are the “boom times” going to happen? As I write this the DOW has just fallen below 10,000 for the first time in 4 years. About one year ago the DOW was at 14,000. That is a 4,000 point drop in one year. Where and when are the boom times? Certainly the boom times are not here, not now, when we have lost Trillions and Trillions, and Trillions of dollars in the stock market, our home values, and in government spending on two wars.

So here we are now under Bush, another two-term Republican president. And he too, like Reagan has managed to hit another first; Bush has for the first time ever, a grown a national debt that exceeds $10 Trillion. But it’s even worse because Bush started out with national debt of ZERO. Bush has managed to saddle us and our children with the largest national debt in the history of the world.

Historically and factually, Democratic presidents have managed the economy of the United States much, much more responsibly and for the betterment of real tax-paying Americans. Since 1946, Democratic presidents increased the national debt an average of only 3.2% per year. The Republican presidents stay at an average increase of 9.2% per year. Republican Presidents out borrowed and out spent Democratic presidents by a three to one ratio.

Putting that in very real terms; for every dollar a Democratic president has raised the national debt in the past 63 years, Republican presidents have raised the debt by $2.84 [1]. So let’s put that old GOP lie of “tax-and-spend Democrats” to rest right here, right now. The GOP outspends the Dems 3 to 1. But the GOP doesn’t tax us. No the GOP just leaves us with the largest debt in the world and pretends that the bill never has to be paid.

Here is a link to see what the current debt is, show it to your kids because they will be paying on it soon.
http://brillig.com/debt_clock/


[1] This number is derived from an average of the six Republican and five Democratic Presidents’ average debt increase for their terms.