GOP’s outcry over deficits disingenuous
Fantastic article from Jay Bookman today:
We do face a long-term problem. Our gross federal debt is at $10.6 trillion, with a good portion owed to lenders in China, Japan and the Middle East. But how did that number get so huge?
Well, of that $10.6 trillion debt — a figure that accumulated over more than 225 years — a shocking $8.35 trillion was racked up during the presidencies of Ronald Reagan, George Bush and George W. Bush. And much as their apologists pretend otherwise, those numbers can’t be blamed mostly on Congress. During the Reagan era, for example, final budgets approved year after year totaled almost exactly what Reagan had requested.
Now, raw numbers can admittedly be misleading. A more accurate way to gauge how much a president has contributed to the problem is to measure debt against the size of the national economy. If the economy grew a lot, debt could grow as well without creating a problem.
Under Jimmy Carter, debt declined as a percentage of gross domestic product, falling to 32.6 percent, its lowest in 50 years. Then came Reagan. By the time “the Gipper” left office, the debt had almost tripled in raw numbers; as a percentage of GDP, it soared to 53.1 percent, and it rose still further, to 66.2 percent, under the first President Bush.
Under Bill Clinton, it fell again, to 57.4 percent, but that reprieve would prove to be temporary. The second President Bush started two expensive wars, one a necessity and one a war of choice. He also became the only president in history to cut taxes in time of war, rejecting the quaint notion that a nation at war ought to sacrifice a bit to pay for it. Bush also created an expensive new entitlement program, the Medicare prescription drug benefit for seniors.
The result? The debt almost doubled under Bush, from $5.7 trillion to $10.6 trillion. As a percentage of GDP, it grew from 57.4 percent to 68 percent, the highest since the aftermath of World War II.
So much for “small government conservatism,” eh?
