Obama Added More to National Debt in First 19 Months Than All Presidents....

[texmaster]

Full title

Obama Added More to National Debt in First 19 Months Than All Presidents from Washington Through Reagan Combined, Says Gov’t Data

In the first 19 months of the Obama administration, the federal debt held by the public increased by $2.5260 trillion, which is more than the cumulative total of the national debt held by the public that was amassed by all U.S. presidents from George Washington through Ronald Reagan.

The U.S. Treasury Department divides the federal debt into two categories. One is “debt held by the public,” which includes U.S. government securities owned by individuals, corporations, state or local governments, foreign governments and other entities outside the federal government itself. The other is “intragovernmental” debt, which includes I.O.U.s the federal government gives to itself when, for example, the Treasury borrows money out of the Social Security “trust fund” to pay for expenses other than Social Security.

So thats the hope and change we were looking for.

To say this is embarrassing for the country is to redefine the word embarassment.

CNSNews.com - Obama Added More to National Debt in First 19 Months Than All Presidents from Washington Through Reagan Combined, Says Gov

 

[Deuce]

So we picked a particular type of debt, failed to adjust for more than 200 years of inflation, and cut it off at Reagan to avoid that whole Iraq/Afghanistan war thing.

Ok.

edit: And I have suspicions about their use of "cumulative total," but I'll have to wait until later to crunch the numbers on that one.

 

[Erod]

So we picked a particular type of debt, failed to adjust for more than 200 years of inflation, and cut it off at Reagan to avoid that whole Iraq/Afghanistan war thing.

Ok.

edit: And I have suspicions about their use of "cumulative total," but I'll have to wait until later to crunch the numbers on that one.

Spin it how you want.

Obama is as financially responsible as Snooki or Paris Hilton.

 

[Renae]

Spin it how you want.

Obama is as financially responsible as Snooki or Paris Hilton.

Deuce ignores the fact those numbers include... TWO world wars and the Cold War. Convenient no?

 

[TacticalEvilDan]

The numbers ignore inflation, and never mind the damage to the economy that he was at least trying to offset.

Convenient no?

 

[Hicup]

The numbers ignore inflation, and never mind the damage to the economy that he was at least trying to offset.

Convenient no?

Doesn't matter, even if you adjust for inflation, to be accurate one must also "adjust" for the inflation that Obama's debt will eventually spell out.. Shouldn't be to hard to average out the inflation rate, no?

Any other arguments you might have that is apologetic for Obama's spending spree?

Tim-

 

[Renae]

The numbers ignore inflation, and never mind the damage to the economy that he was at least trying to offset.

Convenient no?

The problem is, he and those that support his actions believe the Gov't can fix the economy with massive spending and debt. It doesn't work like that, never has, never will.

 

[MKULTRABOY]

The problem is, he and those that support his actions believe the Gov't can fix the economy with massive spending and debt. It doesn't work like that, never has, never will.

I thought government spending pushed output to pre-recession levels preventing a downward spiral of doom an despair.

 

[TacticalEvilDan]

Doesn't matter, even if you adjust for inflation, to be accurate one must also "adjust" for the inflation that Obama's debt will eventually spell out.. Shouldn't be to hard to average out the inflation rate, no?

Of course you would, but that doesn't mean that inflation adjustment doesn't matter. You can't track anything pertaining to a fiat currency over time without factoring inflation, by its very nature it inflates (and occasionally deflates), especially when the backing of the dollar ended just over 40 years ago.

Any other arguments you might have that is apologetic for Obama's spending spree?

The Federal Reserve is about 100 years old, and the Federal Reserve made deficit spending a whole different beast. As such, tracking government debt from the genesis of the nation to now is inherently dishonest.

For crying out loud, national debt as a percentage of GNP was 120% in the wake of WWII, as compared to 90% now. I'm not apologizing for it, I'm just sick of this kind of malarkey.

Manipulating the numbers for political gain does nothing to fix the problem. I'd rather focus on fixing.

 

[the makeout hobo]

Doesn't matter, even if you adjust for inflation, to be accurate one must also "adjust" for the inflation that Obama's debt will eventually spell out.. Shouldn't be to hard to average out the inflation rate, no?

Any other arguments you might have that is apologetic for Obama's spending spree?

Tim-

That's disingenous to suggest that any future inflation will ofset all the inflation we've had in over 200 years. Let's be reasonable here

 

[Renae]

I thought government spending pushed output to pre-recession levels preventing a downward spiral of doom an despair.

In the VERY VERY short term, the makeshift effects of Spending help, but the long term damage is where the danger lies.

The proper course of action would have been to let the system fall, and get out of the way as it rebuilds. There was a LOT of money involved, and like in nature, business abhors a vacuum. Gov't merely harmed the recovery process.

 

[MKULTRABOY]

Ima read about the recession on the pedia of the wiki.

 

[Hicup]

TED -

I'd rather focus on fixing.

Me too, and we can start this process in November, and hold whoever takes those offices accountable.


Tim-

 

[Hicup]

That's disingenous to suggest that any future inflation will ofset all the inflation we've had in over 200 years. Let's be reasonable here

It is reasonable to compare apples to apples. Since 200 years from now isn't here, we can easily quantify the numbers based on a 200 year average. And besides, even taking into account the Federal reserve and how it handled the nations economic woes, we can still gain a high correlate that gives us reason to be "concerned" with ole Bama, no?

Tim-

 

[Jucon]

Full title

Obama Added More to National Debt in First 19 Months Than All Presidents from Washington Through Reagan Combined, Says Gov’t Data

In the first 19 months of the Obama administration, the federal debt held by the public increased by $2.5260 trillion, which is more than the cumulative total of the national debt held by the public that was amassed by all U.S. presidents from George Washington through Ronald Reagan.

The U.S. Treasury Department divides the federal debt into two categories. One is “debt held by the public,” which includes U.S. government securities owned by individuals, corporations, state or local governments, foreign governments and other entities outside the federal government itself. The other is “intragovernmental” debt, which includes I.O.U.s the federal government gives to itself when, for example, the Treasury borrows money out of the Social Security “trust fund” to pay for expenses other than Social Security.

So thats the hope and change we were looking for.

To say this is embarrassing for the country is to redefine the word embarassment.

CNSNews.com - Obama Added More to National Debt in First 19 Months Than All Presidents from Washington Through Reagan Combined, Says Gov

As frightening as these numbers are, it is misleading to say Obama has increased the debt more than any president. This analysis does not take into account the comparison of our debt to the GDP, the direction our government and economy was heading in when Obama came into office, and it does not take into account the inflation of our currency throughout the years. During WWII our national debt was around 122% of our GDP. Today it's around 93%. Which is an increase of maybe 20% since Bush left office. We should also take into consideration that we are in arguably the worst recession since the Great Depression. Not to mention that under many presidents the government has taken money out of Social Security to fund it's budgets.

U.S. National Debt Clock : Real Time

This isn't to say there is nothing wrong with the way government has been spending... I'm just saying this analysis is misleading and is picking and choosing the facts.

Check out this video for a better understanding of where we have been and where we're going: (Skip to 3min 15 sec to see what I was talking about)
YouTube - I.O.U.S.A.: Byte-Sized - The 30 Minute Version

The future of our country is indeed grim unless major changes are made.

 

[Morality Games]

19 months. Curious number. Since when do we start counting by the months?

 

[TacticalEvilDan]

Since when we started manipulating numbers to make something we're mad about look as bad as possible.

Sort of like the difference between 1 part per million and 1,000 parts per billion.

 

[Morality Games]

In the VERY VERY short term, the makeshift effects of Spending help, but the long term damage is where the danger lies.

The proper course of action would have been to let the system fall, and get out of the way as it rebuilds. There was a LOT of money involved, and like in nature, business abhors a vacuum. Gov't merely harmed the recovery process.

Wouldn't that have endangered our economic stature in the world?

Since when we started manipulating numbers to make something we're mad about look as bad as possible.

Sort of like the difference between 1 part per million and 1,000 parts per billion.

Oh, so truth-seeking,

Got it.

 

[Renae]

Wouldn't that have endangered our economic stature in the world?



Oh, so truth-seeking,

Got it.

No, the USSR Collapsed because it's underlying economic health was... horrific. Our is not. The financial sector had over reached, over stretched and the piper came to be paid, but the Gov't just gave him a 20 and sent him on his way. He'll be back and it'll just be worse.

 

[Taylor]

Since when we started manipulating numbers to make something we're mad about look as bad as possible.

Either that, or the simple fact that Obama has been in office for 19 months. :roll:

 

[TacticalEvilDan]

Well, if you want to be that particular about it . . . he hasn't. :lol: