Posted by revengeofareasonablemind in Political Commentary.
Okay, I’m a talk show junky and it’s Sunday again and I was enjoying the patter between Governor of Maryland, Martin O’Malley and Senator Kelly Ayotte when the subject of the national debt came up. Senator Ayotte made the statement that the national debt has risen more under President Obama in the last four years than it has under any other president. Governor O’Malley leaped on the statement saying it was not true and that the Senator knew it wasn’t true. Well, I thought that should be easy enough to determine. So, I went to the Office of Management and Budget, Fiscal Year 2013 Historical Tables Budget of the U.S. Government, page 139. This is a very interesting book since it tracks the U.S. Federal Government financial data back to 1940.
What I found was that during the Roosevelt and Truman Administrations from 1940 to 1952 the Federal Debt grew from $51 billion to $259 billion. The growth during this time was $208 billion. That is a 5.1 fold growth, but there was World War II and the Korean War to fund, so we can understand the desire to pay for the wars with borrowed money. During Eisenhower’s two terms the debt grew from $259 billion to $291 billion or $32 billion, or 12 percent. That’s an average annual growth of $4 billion.
During the Kennedy – Johnson Administrations the debt grew from $291 billion to $369 billion, $78 billion or 27 percent. When Nixon was elected in 1969, the federal debt was $366 billion. When President Ford left office in 1977, the debt was $629 billion. During the Nixon – Ford years the debt increased $263 billion or 72 percent. That’s an average annual increase of $32.9 billion. From 1977 through 1980, the Carter years, the federal debt increased from $706 billion $909 billion, that is $203 billion or 28 percent. But, the average annual growth is $50.8 billion for the Carter single term.
The Reagan years saw the federal debt go from $995 billion to $2.601 trillion, a jump of $1.606 trillion. That represents a 2.6 fold increase or an average annual growth of $201 billion. The George H. W. Bush years from 1989 to 1992 reflected a federal debt increase from $2.868 trillion to $4.002 trillion, a bump of $1.134 trillion or about 40 percent. The average annual growth was $284 billion. Then came the Clinton years where the debt went from $4.351 trillion to $5.605 trillion, a growth of $1.248 trillion or 29 percent. That is an average annual growth of $156 billion.
Now, comes the George W. Bush years that the President Obama folks like to point to as the President who left them in such economic straights. President Bush was in office for eight years. When he took office the federal debt was $5.605 trillion and at the end of his first year it was $5.770 trillion. The debt had grown by $165 billion or 3 percent. By the end of Bush ’43’s first term the federal debt had grown to $7.355 trillion or an increase of $1.750 trillion over the Bush first term or 31 percent growth. The average annual growth over Bush’s first four years was $438 billion.
President Bush’s second term had a federal debt growth from $7.355 trillion at the end of his first term to $9.986 trillion at the end of 2008. That is a growth of $2.631 trillion or 36 percent with an average annual growth of $658 billion. For the entire 8 years of the Bush ’43 Administration the average annual growth rate in the federal debt was $548 billion. Now, keep in mind that G. W. during his time in office put troops in Iraq to stop the maniacal Hussein from slaughtering his people and thumbing his nose at 17 United Nation’s resolutions and took on the Taliban and Osama bin Laden’s terrorist’s strongholds in Afghanistan. Not, to mention the fact that Bush brought the U.S. back from the most devastating terrorist attack on the U.S. in its history. The attack took an incredible financial toll and building the financial and air transportation infrastructure took money.
Now, President Obama has been in office slightly less than four years. Let’s call it 3.8 years. (3 years 10 months). When President Obama took office as we said the federal debt was at $9.986 trillion. Currently, the debt stands at $16.174 trillion. That is an increase of $6.188 trillion or 62 percent and an average annual increase of $1.628 trillion. Indeed the highest average annual increase in the debt and the highest overall increase in debt of any president in the history of the United States. This debt was incurred while drawing down military forces in Iraq. Senator Ayotte was absolute right and Governor O’Malley, an Obama supporter was absolutely wrong.
So, what is the take away. Since anyone, even a governor or his staff could do what I did by looking up the numbers. And, by doing so can find the real truth about the debt. Then, one of two things has to be true. Either the Governor knowing what the accurate numbers are chose to purposefully deceive the television viewers to promote the Obama agenda, or he is simply incompetent and doesn’t have a clue as to what he’s talking about. There is no in between. Pouring through historical data is not fun, but sometime it’s necessary to achieve the revenge of a reasonable mind.
revengeofareasonablemind
There’s No In Between October 8, 2012
Posted by revengeofareasonablemind in Political Commentary.add a comment
Okay, I’m a talk show junky and it’s Sunday again and I was enjoying the patter between Governor of Maryland, Martin O’Malley and Senator Kelly Ayotte when the subject of the national debt came up. Senator Ayotte made the statement that the national debt has risen more under President Obama in the last four years than it has under any other president. Governor O’Malley leaped on the statement saying it was not true and that the Senator knew it wasn’t true. Well, I thought that should be easy enough to determine. So, I went to the Office of Management and Budget, Fiscal Year 2013 Historical Tables Budget of the U.S. Government, page 139. This is a very interesting book since it tracks the U.S. Federal Government financial data back to 1940.
What I found was that during the Roosevelt and Truman Administrations from 1940 to 1952 the Federal Debt grew from $51 billion to $259 billion. The growth during this time was $208 billion. That is a 5.1 fold growth, but there was World War II and the Korean War to fund, so we can understand the desire to pay for the wars with borrowed money. During Eisenhower’s two terms the debt grew from $259 billion to $291 billion or $32 billion, or 12 percent. That’s an average annual growth of $4 billion.
During the Kennedy – Johnson Administrations the debt grew from $291 billion to $369 billion, $78 billion or 27 percent. When Nixon was elected in 1969, the federal debt was $366 billion. When President Ford left office in 1977, the debt was $629 billion. During the Nixon – Ford years the debt increased $263 billion or 72 percent. That’s an average annual increase of $32.9 billion. From 1977 through 1980, the Carter years, the federal debt increased from $706 billion $909 billion, that is $203 billion or 28 percent. But, the average annual growth is $50.8 billion for the Carter single term.
The Reagan years saw the federal debt go from $995 billion to $2.601 trillion, a jump of $1.606 trillion. That represents a 2.6 fold increase or an average annual growth of $201 billion. The George H. W. Bush years from 1989 to 1992 reflected a federal debt increase from $2.868 trillion to $4.002 trillion, a bump of $1.134 trillion or about 40 percent. The average annual growth was $284 billion. Then came the Clinton years where the debt went from $4.351 trillion to $5.605 trillion, a growth of $1.248 trillion or 29 percent. That is an average annual growth of $156 billion.
Now, comes the George W. Bush years that the President Obama folks like to point to as the President who left them in such economic straights. President Bush was in office for eight years. When he took office the federal debt was $5.605 trillion and at the end of his first year it was $5.770 trillion. The debt had grown by $165 billion or 3 percent. By the end of Bush ’43’s first term the federal debt had grown to $7.355 trillion or an increase of $1.750 trillion over the Bush first term or 31 percent growth. The average annual growth over Bush’s first four years was $438 billion.
President Bush’s second term had a federal debt growth from $7.355 trillion at the end of his first term to $9.986 trillion at the end of 2008. That is a growth of $2.631 trillion or 36 percent with an average annual growth of $658 billion. For the entire 8 years of the Bush ’43 Administration the average annual growth rate in the federal debt was $548 billion. Now, keep in mind that G. W. during his time in office put troops in Iraq to stop the maniacal Hussein from slaughtering his people and thumbing his nose at 17 United Nation’s resolutions and took on the Taliban and Osama bin Laden’s terrorist’s strongholds in Afghanistan. Not, to mention the fact that Bush brought the U.S. back from the most devastating terrorist attack on the U.S. in its history. The attack took an incredible financial toll and building the financial and air transportation infrastructure took money.
Now, President Obama has been in office slightly less than four years. Let’s call it 3.8 years. (3 years 10 months). When President Obama took office as we said the federal debt was at $9.986 trillion. Currently, the debt stands at $16.174 trillion. That is an increase of $6.188 trillion or 62 percent and an average annual increase of $1.628 trillion. Indeed the highest average annual increase in the debt and the highest overall increase in debt of any president in the history of the United States. This debt was incurred while drawing down military forces in Iraq. Senator Ayotte was absolute right and Governor O’Malley, an Obama supporter was absolutely wrong.
So, what is the take away. Since anyone, even a governor or his staff could do what I did by looking up the numbers. And, by doing so can find the real truth about the debt. Then, one of two things has to be true. Either the Governor knowing what the accurate numbers are chose to purposefully deceive the television viewers to promote the Obama agenda, or he is simply incompetent and doesn’t have a clue as to what he’s talking about. There is no in between. Pouring through historical data is not fun, but sometime it’s necessary to achieve the revenge of a reasonable mind.