Richard WarnickA Trillion Here, A Trillion There…
Did the late Illinois Senator Everett Dirksen ever say, “A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you’re talking real money”? (or anything very close to that?) Perhaps not. According to one account, Dirksen said, “A newspaper fella misquoted me once, and I thought it sounded so good that I never bothered to deny it.”
Dirksen spoke often and passionately about the debt ceiling, federal spending, and the growth of government. Back in 1965, the debt ceiling was $328 billion. Imagine what he might say this week as the National Debt topped a record $10 trillion. This is the highest dollar amount ever, and pushes the debt to 69% of the gross domestic product, which is the highest percentage since 1955.
Matt Yglesias comments on the graph: “As you can see, there are basically two kinds of situations in which this ratio skyrockets — either World War II breaks out, or else you put representatives of the modern conservative movement in the White House.”
President Bush has presided over the largest increase in the debt of any president in history. When he took office, the national debt stood at $5.727 trillion. In eight years, there has been an increase of over 72%.
Think Progress has more, if you can stand to read it.
This too must be the fault of the Democrats! (see comments).
UPDATE: McCain’s proposed doubling of the Bush tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy would create the largest deficits in 25 years and drive the United States into the deepest deficits since World War II. McCain and Palin have promised that the $700 billion bailout would not threaten these tax cuts.
UPDATE: The National Debt Clock in Times Square has to be replaced because they ran out of digits.
