Think Progress

National debt passes $10 trillion.

By Satyam Khanna on Oct 2nd, 2008 at 7:35 pm

National debt passes $10 trillion.

The Swamp reports today that “on the last day of September, the national debt hit $10 trillion plus,” as the “gross national debt as a percentage of the gross domestic product has, under the Bush Administration, hit a 50-year high. The debt grew the fastest under supply-siders Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and George W. Bush:

debt2.gif

The debt was $5.7 trillion when Bush took office; the bailout legislation passed by the Senate last night would raise the debt ceiling further to $11.315 trillion. The Wonk Room has more.



27 Responses to “National debt passes $10 trillion.”

  1. Zooey says:

    OMFG, just look at that…I’m sickened.


  2. ralph the wonder llama says:

    Interesting chart, especially the contrast between Democratic administrations and Republican ones.

    In every Democratic administration since the end of WW2, the national debt appears to have decreased.

    Likewise in Republican administrations — until Reagan. After that, every Republican president has increased the national debt.

    Jeezus — not only have the Repubs played the religious right for suckers, they’ve also played the fiscal conservatives too.

    Who does that leave for them? The racists?


  3. COProgressive says:

    It’s the “Borrow and Spend” Republicans at work again. Bush lost his “Veto” pen for the first six years of his failed administration and the Repubs just loaded up on anything and everything they wanted.

    Reminds me of cheapskates. You go out to dinner with them, they order the finest meals, the finest wine and the best desert and when they see the waiter coming with the check, jump up and say that an emergency has just come up, and say “I’ll get it next time.”

    The GOP, the party of “I got mine, screw you!”


  4. Keith says:

    First 200 years of country (up thru Carter) total debt= $0.9 trillion. Chin up Zooey. I’m listening to Kucinich on C-Span. He’s really good tonight.


  5. VerbalKint says:

    But but but buttttttttt ……. Nancy Pelosi’s ratings!


  6. tarazan says:

    Republicans always say they are against taxes,but they show no hesitancy in burdening this generation and the next one with debt.
    We don’t tax you,they say..but we’ll make you sign I.O.U.s for years to come in trillions of dollars,for money borrowed from other countries in your name.


  7. Badmoodman says:

    National debt passes $10 trillion.

    – - The famous mathmetician Karl Rove claims, “deficits don’t matter.”

    Especially if you have no kids and plan on dying in the very near future.


  8. ralph the wonder llama says:

    Badmoodman Says:
    National debt passes $10 trillion.

    - – The famous mathmetician Karl Rove claims, “deficits don’t matter.”

    I believe that this line is attributable to Darth Cheney, not KKKarl.

    I know, tomay-to, tomah-to.


  9. wilytrax.com says:

    They should have made the debates tonight Pay Per View.
    That would have gone a long way to paying down the debt.

    http://www.wilytrax.com


  10. Who Lied Today? says:

    And it’s always the perfect statement: Heckuva Job!


  11. Doc Rock says:

    Thank you Cheney & Bush.


  12. Keith says:

    Kucinich said a large part of this money will go to bailout foreign banks. He said Saudi Arabia and China demanded it of Dubya. The bill does not say American bank debts.


  13. Sven Ortmann says:

    Keep in mind the graph shows the percentage national debt/GNP and the presidents.

    It does not show the absolute size of the debt (falling curve is NOT necessarily a reduction in debt), nor does it show the majorities in the Congress.

    It’s actually much better to look at the percentage than to look at the nominal debt, but the lacking information about Congress majorities (Congressmen have much responsibility for budgets, after all) is a weak spot.

    Btw, it’s remarkable that the graph is falling in the Vietnam War period.


  14. Bilbo Hussein Baggins says:

    Yup, Yup, the fiscal conservative Republicans. What a record and what a farce they are.


  15. ralph the wonder llama says:

    Sven Ortmann Says:
    Keep in mind the graph shows the percentage national debt/GNP and the presidents.

    It does not show the absolute size of the debt (falling curve is NOT necessarily a reduction in debt), nor does it show the majorities in the Congress

    .

    Good points, Sven. Thanks for raising them.


  16. ScrewBush says:

    It warms my heart to read COProgressive’s comment, “Borrow and Spend” Republicans. I am shocked that Dems never boast that they are “Tax and Spend” because That is how you run a government!

    You tax the people and then spend the money on delivering services to the people.

    Can you imagine the state of the country under Bush/Cheney if we didn’t barrow trillions of dollars? I hope everyone had a good time during the last 8 years, because all the credit cards are topped out. I don’t know anyone who got a chunk of this, but you know somewhere there are Loyal Bushies who are set for generations, their great grand children will not have to ever work. I guess this was God’s vision for America.


  17. wizard2000 says:

    Whoopee!!!

    We’re Number One!! We’re Number One!! We’re Number One!!

    U S A !!! U S A !!! U S A !!!

    Ooops. Sorry.

    I guess this “record” is nothing of which an American citizen can be proud.

    And just think, almost half of this “record” federal deficit occurred during the Bush/Cheney administration and when Republicans controlled Congress…which flies in the face (and sanity) of Republicans somehow being “fiscal conservatives.” No, they are just thieves, especially since the Bush/Cheney administration and Republicans controlling Congress were handed budget surpluses by the outgoing Clinton/Gore administration in January 2001.

    Bush/Cheney and all Republicans should hang their heads in shame…while they all go admit themselves into prison for a nice, long incarceration far away from the rest of us or some other type of institution for treatment and observation.

    Especially since they drove up the national debt on purpose.


  18. Oval12345678 aka James K. Sayre says:

    SP: I define marriage as one man, one woman and one dead moose.


  19. jimbobuddy says:

    Who’s “Lingle”?


  20. Analogous says:

    This chart says more than any debate.


  21. follow the money says:

    check out the
    “national debt clock”

    on google..
    and do your very, very best to save your money everybody..

    and I mean everybody..

    good luck to you..


  22. Max-1 says:

    .

    THE WORST EVER…
    … UNIMPEACHABLE?

    It certainly seems so…
    … How can Americans call themselves Patriotic Americans and turn their backs on the Rule of Law, favoring the Rule of Men? Isn’t that an act of unamerican, unprincipled proportions? It’s not only wholly unimagable for Americans to think, “It doesn’t count if it’s America” but completely undefensible on it’s face, as American Democracy rose up in that fight FOR the Rule of Law to REMAIN supreme!

    NO MAN IS ABOVE THE LAW…
    … Except Jesus. Right Darryll?

    .


  23. ohplease says:

    FilthyRichmond.com roxxorz yer boxerz


  24. ohplease says:

    The graph is a lie… The only reason it works is because they are dividing by GDP.

    When Clinton was President, the GDP sky-rocketed because Congress was too busy impeaching him to bother us. They left us the hell alone, and the country did great.

    After the Dot-Com bubble burst, and all the big companies began to off-shore jobs, the GDP tanked. If the National Debt had stayed level, or even gone down, the graph would be pretty much the same because of the changes in GDP.

    When I was in high school, I grew six inches in two years, while my weight changed very little. If you divided my weight by my height and graphed it, it would have appeared that I had lost weight.


  25. Sven Ortmann says:

    Debt/GNP is a measure that tells almost everything you need to know about the real weight of the debt on state/economy and about the ability to pay back.

    Nominal and real debt in USD is in itself not really important.
    A worker with 100,000 USD debt is in trouble, and he’s insane if he adds another 20,000 USD debt to it.
    An income millionaire with 100,000 USD debt is in no trouble, and it’s not terrible if he adds another 20,000 USD debt to it.

    The GNP – best single-variable description for the state’s income potential – IS important in such affairs.


  26. randeg1 says:

    This is just amazing information and putting it in the form of the graph makes it even clearer. I hope you put this information out front so people will be guided accordingly come election day. We surely are in deep financial crisis.

    Evelyn Guzman
    Debt Challenger


  27. justthisonecomment says:

    Hmm. First off, the Bush admin wasn’t fiscally conservative, and they got into a war no good conservative would have got into. Second, Reagan’s debt went up due to out-of-control spending from the liberal congress. Look it up.



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