The National Debt Road Trip

3 thoughts on “The National Debt Road Trip

  1. Hmm. Skips a few major issues there.

    Had we not been in Iraq to begin with, we would not be spending nearly a trillion dollars to keep the peace (or, at least, fail trying).

    Had we not cut taxes in the Bush years, we would have had more revenues now.

    Had we actually decided to fund Medicare Part D instead of throwing it on the deficit in 2003-2004, we would have an additional $500 billion there.

    Depicting the debt as a speed limit is a nice illustration, but it assumes driving the national deficit is just like driving a car – I can stop and reverse at any time.

    No, government spending is more like pushing a boulder down a mountain and trying to stop it halfway down. The fact you were pushing it harder down the mountain 1/4th of the way down really doesn’t help the next guy that has suddenly been tasked (!) to stop the boulder.

    Curiously, now that Democrats have agreed to actually pay for their policies (PAYGO), they’re being attacked for being fiscally irresponsible. When most economists and observers agree that a President McCain would have followed through with the bailouts and stimulus like we’ve already done.

    -Rob

  2. Rob, thanks for the input. There is no question that President Obama or Reagan or whoever stepped into an already flowing stream. I suppose if you want to look at it that way, you would go back to FDR.

    Still, it’s worth measuring the speed of the current at any given point.

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