Bush's fiscal legacy: bigger debt

[babylonsister]

Bush's fiscal legacy: bigger debt
Indebtedness of $5.5 trillion will limit future US spending options.
By Peter Grier | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

from the September 27, 2007 edition

Page 1 of 2
Reporter Peter Grier says if you want to understand the federal deficit, it helps to understand some of the terms involved.


WASHINGTON - Whatever happens over the next 16 months, President Bush will leave office having presided over one of the fastest accumulations of government debt in the history of the United States.

During his time in office, federal debt held by the public – Washington's equivalent of a credit-card balance – will have increased by more than 50 percent, to about $5.5 trillion. Uncle Sam will be paying interest on that sum for years to come.

Much of that borrowed money paid for military expenses after the 9/11 attacks – spending unanticipated when Mr. Bush took office. Measured against the size of the US economy, the public debt isn't far outside historical norms.

But US debt had declined during President Bill Clinton's last four years. Some budget experts say Bush has missed a historic opportunity to improve the nation's fiscal position.

"Federal debt – that's the Bush legacy on the budget," says Stan Collender, a veteran Washington budget expert and managing director of Qorvis Communications.

more...

http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0927/p01s02-usec.html

[Tesha]

1. Debt run-ups are done by Republicans as a way of limiting spending on social programs.

Debt run-ups are done by Republicans as a way of limiting spending
on social programs. "We can't possibly afford to help sick kids
with health care -- there's no money!"

At the same time, the spending the Republicans do transfers
vast sums of money out of the public treasury and into the
hands of Republican shareholders in defense firms and the
like.

Tesha

[begin_within]

2. The new Bush Stamp

[SpiralHawk]

3. "We are, um, a, like, conservatives - SMIRK" - Commander AWOL

"That's right, we republicon homelanders are -- smirk, smirk, snark - um, a, conservatives, smirk, smirk, smirk"

- Commander AWOL & the Corrput Cabal of republicon Homelander anti-Americans

[charlie]

4. "if you want to understand the federal deficit..."

"...it helps to understand some of the terms involved."

Only two you need to know.

Republicans.

Profligate.

Every Republican administration for the past 60+ years has spent us into debt at a far faster and steeper rate than Democrats:

http://www.cedarcomm.com/~stevelm1/usdebt.htm

"Measured against the size of the US economy, the public debt isn't far outside historical norms."

Measured against a private sector that's leveraged past its eyeballs, I'd guess it IS outside historical norms. Debts don't magically dissolve with time, we have to pay them. We can't. Not for a while.

And I want to strangle that Heritage dink who excuses Reagan's spree because "it ended the cold war." It didn't. And it didn't "save(d) huge amounts of money in the long term", no matter how many times rightwing pinheads chirp that lunatic horseshit.

[Johonny]

5. spending unanticipated when Mr. Bush took office.

Huh? The people in his inner circle planned to attack Iraq well before 9-11. The Iraq war has nothing to do with 9-11.