[canuck_conservative]

Has our National Debt ever been paid off? If so, I don't recall what century.

IIRC, President Andrew Jackson managed to pay off the US's war debts in th 1830s - much to the annoyance of the bankers at the time, who wanted the government to stay in debt (and thus under their control).

He also got rid of the infamous Bank of The United States, the predecessor to the Federal Reserve, with the famous line "You are a den of thieves, and I will cast you out". Jackson correctly recognised the threat that comes with putting a nation's money supply in the hands of private bankers - and for that reason, he's one of my American heroes.

[DeaconBenjamin2]

Jackson correctly recognised the threat that comes with putting a nation's money supply in the hands of private bankers

Much as I share your admiration for Jackson's successful campaign against the Second Bank of the United States, it cannot be said that he removed the power to adjust the nation's money supply from the hands of private bankers. In killing off Biddle's Bank, he certainly removed control of the money supply from a small clique of private bankers, and left it more generally under the control of the market. Yet, the remaining influence and effect of private bankers (en masse) on the money supply was not small.

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IIRC, President Andrew Jackson managed to pay off the US's war debts in th 1830s - much to the annoyance of the bankers at the time, who wanted the government to stay in debt (and thus under their control).

Thank you. I'll remember that.