Posted on 08/21/2026 8:09:52 AM PDT by Miami Rebel
Vice President Vance said Thursday night that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has a “very discreet plan” to shrink the nation’s debt.
“He [Bessent] has had a very discreet plan, of course, supported by the president of the United States, to get the United States to a point where our economy is growing faster than our debt,” Vance said on Newsmax’s “Carl Higbie Frontline.”
“And if you look, we are on track. So, even though the debt is too high, even though we inherited this debt bomb from the Biden administration, we actually do have a plan to get the economy growing faster than the debt and that’s the most important thing,” the vice president added.
On Thursday, Bessent claimed the U.S. can “grow” its way out of the national debt, which hit $40 trillion on Wednesday.
“There’s nothing magic about the $40 trillion number, and we can grow our way out of that,” Bessent told “Squawk on the Street” co-host Sara Eisen on CNBC.
“But what we do want to signal is I think there’s been a lot of misinformation in terms of what’s going on with the deficit, what’s going on with the deficit to GDP,” he added.
Bessent said that a temporary aspect of the debt comes from tariff refunds ordered by the Supreme Court in a February ruling against emergency tariffs from President Trump.
The Treasury Department head said U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer is going to implement “the same level of tariffs,” and that he expects the “2026 tariff income is going to be roughly what it was in ’25.”
Lawmakers have recently raised concerns over the national debt, decrying Congress’s inability to sufficiently deal with an issue that has become harder to ignore.
The GOP has commonly cited federal spending and entitlement programs as main causes behind the debt, with Democrats emphasizing the need for increased taxation of wealthy Americans and corporations as well as spending reforms.
My problem with “balanced budgets” is they always front load the spending and then claim there won’t be enough revenue so they raise taxes. Balanced!
Tariffs are the ONLY way out. Any fool knows that.
It’s the corrupt judges who hate America that are standing in the way.
add in legacy media
cutting anything sends them into beast mode
3 worst presidents in 75 years for increasing debt
Reagan
Obama
Biden
You’re confused.
Tariffs don’t add up to anything more than a rounding error.
That chart is out of date. It shows the debt for the second Trump term increasing by $3 trillion. We’re actually already up $3.8 trillion.
Or accumulating debt
Might become real easy to pay off a 100k loan at 10k an hour minimum wage
Eating and paying it however….
Much better 😜 thank you. Every day, an additional $7.91 billion dollars are added to our debt. We are cooked.
Get ready! Things are about to get more expensive. Interest on the debt is 20% of tax receipts and they have to raise rates to find buyers. Cutting spending and economic growth by creating value (manufacturing) could stave off a downturn.
How much will our standard of living fall?
PDJT beats them all...$10.9 trillion (and counting {up}):
PDJT: $10.91 Trillion (so far)
Obama: $9.32 Trillion
Biden: $8.45 Trillion
G.W. Bush: $4.90 Trillion
Reagan: $1.86 Trillion
Clinton: $1.54 Trillion
H.W. Bush: $1.33 Trillion
Carter: $0.30 Trillion
The rest are not even close.
https://www.us-debt-clock.com/presidents
You have to adjust dollars to inflation.
$1 Trillion during Reagan is not same as $1 Trillion during Trump.
Even better comparison is PERCENTAGE increase by each president to national debt. Of course, spending bills are NOT initiated by POTUS but he signs the spending bills to make them law. POTUS can always veto any bill, and then congress needs more votes to override the veto.
Basically true (using “inflation adjusted dollars”), but in the end it is all the deficit spending is what is causing the inflation in the 1st place. And no administration has the guts to tackle the deficit spending...the “Contract With America” by Newt Gingrich and Dick Armey with the Clinton Administration came close in 1994 (welfare reform, etc. took effect 1995-1999’ish with positive budget #’s), but has been bad ever since.
Inflation adjusted (2nd chart down the page):
https://www.macrotrends.net/3211/us-federal-deficit
Congress spent an extra $2 trillion in 2021 to raise their base spending. Times that by 5 years and you get $10 trillion in extra inflation creating spending. Congress was already spending trillions too much before this.
Are the roads and infrastructure better at all? No.
The bond market showed this week they are skeptical of Bessent.
Do not worry. Excessive debt requires excessive servicing cost, already highest item in federal budget. It will restrict excessive spending as interest on debt becomes unaffordable.
Everybody enjoys spending other people’s money. I bet if I mailed you my credit card, you will go on a buying spree.
I will accept that bet. Please send and do not look at your credit card statement for a month : )
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