Posted on 03/16/2012 10:11:54 AM PDT by redstatesrule
Democrats and Republicans take turns condemning and piling up debt. For example, while Franklin Roosevelt was president, Democratic Party platforms were mostly silent about government debt, while Republicans regularly condemned it. In 1960 Democrats criticized President Eisenhower for failing to reduce the national debt, but avoided the issue during the 1960s and 1970s.
(Excerpt) Read more at thecypresstimes.com ...
I think that complacency, due to having successfully paying it down prior, is part of the problem.
America has always paid down its debt, so why worry?
"I deem [this one of] the essential principles of our government and consequently [one] which ought to shape its administration:... The honest payment of our debts and sacred preservation of the public faith." --Thomas Jefferson: 1st Inaugural, 1801. ME 3:322
"I sincerely believe... that the principle of spending money to be paid by posterity under the name of funding is but swindling futurity on a large scale." --Thomas Jefferson to John Taylor, 1816. ME 15:23
"[With the decline of society] begins, indeed, the bellum omnium in omnia [war of all against all], which some philosophers observing to be so general in this world, have mistaken it for the natural, instead of the abusive state of man. And the fore horse of this frightful team is public debt. Taxation follows that, and in its train wretchedness and oppression." --Thomas Jefferson to Samuel Kercheval, 1816. ME 15:40
Very convincing article in the “We’re Screwed” category. I don’t know enough about economics to know if his numbers are all accurate, but I do know that the debt is very large.
Uh, when was the last time it was $16 Trillion, sir?
In 1945 debt as a multiple of GDP was bigger than it is now. Back then we did not have the overhang of huge Social Security liabilities, government pensions and other “entitlements”. If you add in unfunded liabilities, national debt is several times larger than it was in 1945. As James Manzi says, millions of people are counting on promises that cannot possibly be kept.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.