Obama Added More to National Debt in First 19 Months Than All Presidents from Washington...

CNSNews ^ | September 8, 2010 | Terence P. Jeffrey, Editor-in-Chief

[jazusamo]

Complete title: Obama Added More to National Debt in First 19 Months Than All Presidents from Washington Through Reagan Combined, Says Gov’t Data

(CNSNews.com) - In the first 19 months of the Obama administration, the federal debt held by the public increased by $2.5260 trillion, which is more than the cumulative total of the national debt held by the public that was amassed by all U.S. presidents from George Washington through Ronald Reagan.
 
The U.S. Treasury Department divides the federal debt into two categories. One is “debt held by the public,” which includes U.S. government securities owned by individuals, corporations, state or local governments, foreign governments and other entities outside the federal government itself. The other is “intragovernmental” debt, which includes I.O.U.s the federal government gives to itself when, for example, the Treasury borrows money out of the Social Security “trust fund” to pay for expenses other than Social Security.

At the end of fiscal year 1989, which ended eight months after President Reagan left office, the total federal debt held by the public was $2.1907 trillion, according to the Congressional Budget Office. That means all U.S. presidents from George Washington through Ronald Reagan had accumulated only that much publicly held debt on behalf of American taxpayers. That is $335.3  billion less than the $2.5260 trillion that was added to the federal debt held by the public just between Jan. 20, 2009, when President Obama was inaugurated, and Aug. 20, 2010, the 19-month anniversary of Obama's inauguration.
 
By contrast, President Reagan was sworn into office on Jan. 20, 1981 and left office eight years later on Jan. 20, 1989. At the end of fiscal 1980, four months before Reagan was inaugurated, the federal debt held by the public was $711.9 billion, according to CBO. At the end of fiscal 1989, eight months after Reagan left office, the federal debt held by the public was $2.1907 trillion. That means that in the nine-fiscal-year period of 1980-89--which included all of Reagan’s eight years in office--the federal debt held by the public increased $1.4788 trillion. That is in excess of a trillion dollars less than the $2.5260 increase in the debt held by the public during Obama’s first 19 months.
 
When President Barack Obama took the oath of office on Jan. 20, 2009, the total federal debt held by the public stood at 6.3073 trillion, according to the Bureau of the Public Debt, a division of the U.S. Treasury Department. As of Aug. 20, 2010, after the first nineteen months of President Obama’s 48-month term, the total federal debt held by the public had grown to a total of $8.8333 trillion, an increase of $2.5260 trillion.
 
In just the last four months (May through August), according to the CBO, the Obama administration has run cumulative deficits of $464 billion, more than the $458 billion deficit the Bush administration ran through the entirety of fiscal 2008.

The CBO predicted this week that the annual budget deficit for fiscal 2010, which ends on the last day of this month, will exceed $1.3 trillion.

The first two fiscal years in which Obama has served will see the two biggest federal deficits as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product since the end of World War II.
 
“CBO currently estimates that the deficit for 2010 will be about $70 billion below last year’s total but will still exceed $1.3 trillion,” said the CBO’s monthly budget review for September, which was released yesterday. “Relative to the size of the economy, this year’s deficit is expected to be the second-largest shortfall in the past 65 years: At 9.1 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), that deficit will be exceeded only by last year’s deficit of 9.9 percent of GDP.”

[pallis]

And he is just starting.

[Parley Baer]

Try telling that to 90% of the blacks in this country. They still are blaming Bush for the deficit going by the black callers on the radio talk shows.

[griswold3]

Interest payments on public debt 2009 -$186B 2010 -$210B

[Monitor]

The title is misleading. Basically, Obama more than doubled the public debt that remained.

[Don Corleone]

See....”Cloward-Piven”

[rovenstinez]

I’m not worried, I bought up at garage sales all of the MONOPOLY game boards, I have the cash from all Park Avenue, I collected $200 when I pass GO, and have several GET OUT OF JAIL cards...Let it melt down, I’m ready.

[jazusamo]

I’ve no doubt doubt that is in his warped mind.

[jeltz25]

this article is really misleading. The absolute increase in the debt isn’t the issue, it’s the % increase. You need to account for inflation.

It may have only gone from 712B to 2.2T under 8 yrs of Reagan, but that means it more than tripled over those 8 yrs. That’s a pretty abysmal record. Reagan did a lot of good things, but the natl debt was not one of them. You can say it was worth it because the military build-up helped end the Cold War, but still Reagan’s fiscal record was pretty poor overall.

For an equal increase under Obama it would have to go from around 6T to 18T in 8 yrs.

It’s like saying a movie that comes out today and makes 50M was more successful than Ben Hur which made 40M in 1954, when 40M in 54 would be 800B today.

[jeltz25]

In fact, it’s interesting Jefferey didn’t mention Bill Clinton in that article. In 1992 the debt was 3T according to the table and in 2001 when he left it was 3.3T. About a 10% increase over 8 yrs. Far better than the 300% increase we saw during the Reagan years. 30 times better to be exact.

Under W it went from the low 3s to the mid 7s, or more than doubled.

So, under Reagan the debt more than tripled, under W it more than doubled, and under Clinton it stayed about the same.

No wonder he didn’t mention Clinton. Clinton was the most fiscally conservative President in recent times. The GOP Congress may have played a big part in tat, but he should still get his due.

[terjon]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_OzLHKFN5s

[cvq3842]

Yes, it’s staggering. And the debt was high enough to start with!

[Niuhuru]

And Clinton did manage to balance the budget. That’s no small thing. I could have sworn that under him the national debt began to substantially shrink.

[Joe Boucher]

Anything I have to say about this will only get me banned or put in time out.
(FUBO), that’s from my kid.

[TChris]

And Clinton did manage to balance the budget.

HE DID NO SUCH THING!

The budget is ENTIRELY under the control of Congress.

The president can submit a budget, which Congress can vote into law or not.

But the blame or credit for the budget is COMPLETELY on Congress.

The budget was balanced during Clinton's presidency because the Republican party controlled both houses of Congress.

That's the reality.

GWB's years were marred by the opposite, a completely Democrat-held Congress.

Never forget: CONGRESS CONTROLS THE BUDGET AND SPENDING!

[Ramius]

To be fair... Reagan had a lot of military catch-up to do after Carter’s abysmal failure and Tip O’Neil and the Dem Congress held the military spending hostage so they could spend spend spend. And the fiscal restraint of the 90’s was directly due to the GOP Congress. It happened in spite of Clinton, not because of him.

Presidents don’t spend money. Congress does. Unfortunately for us, this Congress is just a bunch of fellow travelers with Obama.

[RummyChick]

http://michellemalkin.com/2010/09/07/video-the-forgotten-man/

[jazusamo]

Great video, everyone should watch it.

Sent emails of it yesterday.

[fortunecookie]

And in less than 2 years! Good thing it was all Bush’ fault...