[GCFL-discuss] Prodigous!

[Discussion of the Good, Clean Funnies List]

OK, John, you are right on the statistics. I was running off on some
generalized remarks I had heard a few years ago. The truth is more like
this:

In May 2000, the USA was paying off $216 billion in debt, bringing to
$355 billion the amount of debt paid down in the three years since the
government began running bduget surpluses. This was the largest debt
paydown in national history, and left the long-term federal debt $2.4
trillion lower that projected in 1992. But it was still $5.7 trillion.

The news was not that we had paid it off, but that we were paying it
down, which had never happened in my lifetime.

Various members of the Republican party, once known as the party of
fiscal discipline, were talking about tax cuts. Clinton observed that the
national debt quadrupled under Ronald Reagan and George Bush, and
suggested that the feasible goal of paying off the entire national debt
by 2013 comes first. (Isn't that what you tell your kids? First pay off
your debts, before you buy a bunch of new stuff?)

Now our debt is just short of $10 trillion. To be completely fair, if you
take government-held debt, such as the Social Security Trust Fund, out of
the equation, in 2000 the national debt was only about $3.5 trillion, and
in 2008 it is only $5.5 trillion. After all, no president can really
control what the size or obligations of Social Security are. But the
money saved from interest on the paid-down debt could have extended the
life of social security another 54 years.

National debt rose 42% under Carter, 189% under Reagan, 55.6% under GHW
Bush, 36% under Clinton -- but the annual change went from +9% in 1993 to
an unprecedented -2% in 2000, and up 63% under GWB. Give the boy credit
though, in 2006 and 2007 its been up only 6% a year, compared to 8-9%
2002-2005.

The current national debt is $30,445 per capita. If your savings from the
Bush tax cuts are greater than $30,445, then you may be coming out ahead,
but for most of us, and the country as a whole, its sort of like taking
out a cash advance on your credit card, never paying it back, and
thinking you got extra money in the bank. (The National Bank of China is
collecting the interest, and using it to buy the latest factories for
building military hardware, just to be sure that if they do decide to
invade Taiwan, we are in no position to object).

My mother is a life-long Republican. She inherited her political
loyalties from her great-grandfather, who came home to eastern Tennessee
from the Civil War,with discharge papers signed by Abraham Lincoln. She
was a conservative before that was cool, and she has no use for the
profligate playboys who call themselves conservatives today. She is
DEEPLY embarrassed to see Republican administrations running up huge
debts like there was no tomorrow, while Democratic administrations are
exercising fiscal discipline, adhering to a policy of pay-as-you-go, and
taking care of actually PAYING our debts!

(OK, I don't expect this to change your mind. I'm really waiting to see
how it grabs Lance. And whether Jeanene will be able to come up with
anything in reply, except for "Oh, so what, I max out my credit card all
the time, and somehow life goes on." That's the modern Republican
philosophy after all.)

Siarlys


On Fri, 29 Aug 2008 21:09:46 -0500 "Discussion of the Good, Clean Funnies
List" <gcfl-discuss at gcfl.net> writes:
> On Fri, Aug 29, 2008 at 08:03:05PM -0500, Siarlys wrote:
> > 
> > Are you better off than you were eight years ago?
> 
> Yes, I am actually.
> 
> > Eight years ago, the United States of America had a balanced 
> budget, and
> > was on the edge of paying off its national debt for the first time 
> since
> > the 1920s.
> 
> In May 2000, the debt was $5.7 trillion.  I wouldn't call
> that "on the edge." 
> 
> reference:
> http://archives.cnn.com/2000/ALLPOLITICS/stories/05/01/clinton.debt/
> 
> "War sucks and it costs a lot."
> 
> jp
> 
> -- 
> Sleep is good. It'll keep you from going psychotic.
> 
> Have a great day and don't forget to laugh!
> 
> http://www.gcfl.net (The Good, Clean Funnies List): Good,
> clean daily funnies you can safely tell your Mom!
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> 
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