Please get the units right! The deficit is measured in dollars per year. The debt is measured in dollars. Failure to use appropriate units is a sin against humanity.
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I think this is quite clear. Thanks for explaining it so well.
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Now that Republicans will be able to pass legislation without having to deal with an Obama veto, I'm afraid we can expect the annual deficit to rise because of the tax cuts for the wealthy that will be passed. Plus they will increase spending in some areas. I doubt that many Republican politicians will complain about deficits while they are in charge.
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This isn't clear; I agree it needs numbers and a look at how Paul Krugman explained it. Try this one again, please.
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The Times and every other newspaper in America should be putting our debt and deficit in the forefront of the news.....forget about Comey, and Syria and ISIS. The threat to our country is the debt we've accumulated over the last 8 years - it's going to strangle any productivity we may attempt to improve the economy. The interest on that debt is approximately $250 billion per year - if rates go up, that number can increase disproportionately. We can't eliminate the deficit, due to Congress' insatiable appetite to spend, so our debt continues increasing. When you have no accountability in Washington DC, this is what happens - no one, I mean no one, will seriously discuss this issue, as it's toxic for politicians.
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It's common for political opponents of the current party in power to cite the increase in the national debt over the years of that party's incumbency. Why not cite the changes in both the debt and deficit since say, 2000 when Bush Junior became President? You may then want to revise your criticism.
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Obama got us up to 20 trillion with the federal deficit; he is quite a spender as no one other president did so much damage. It bothers people and that is one reason why democrats lost many government seats (over 1,000) besides the presidency.
Sir/Madam, The absolute numbers of the debt are unimportant. What matters is the size of the debt relative to the size of the economy. If your mortgage is $1000 a month but your income is $1200 a month, you've got a problem. If your income is $4000 a month then the payment every month is not an issue. The same here
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No, Obama brought the deficit way down. Read the article! The debt is still growing because of the high deficit during the Bush administration. It's easy to look up the actual numbers.
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Those who seem to be "bothered" are quite simply those who most want to taste a piece of it. Greed has no bounds.
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Thank you for this excellent explanation. It's greatly appreciated.
Dave, read the comment again. CB was referring to Trump in the future tense. Obviously, he couldn't have contributed to the debt if he wasn't in government during the past eight years. Starting January 20, though....
The Deficit is what Republicans build and Trump plans to use to enrich himself. The Debt is what the American public will have to pay back to the Treasury to cover what they spend and he takes.
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So genius, how did Trump create the additional $9 Trillion in debt when Obama was in office from January 2009 until now?
Yeah, genius Dave. Because Obama never inherited the debt from Bush and the Iraq war off the books and the financial crisis. Should have just fixed it!
How'd about giving us some numbers?
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www.usdebtclock.org is an excellent resource. To answer, the most recent deficit is about $591 billion per year. The total debt is about $19.9 trillion, or about 33 times the deficit. So, at the current run rate the debt (which is our accumulated deficits) represents about 33 years worth of annual overspending.