The Issue of the National Debt and Deficit Spending

Ever since the Obama Administration began just a little over two months ago, we have been hearing about the horrors of increasing the national debt during the economic crisis that we face.  Also, as Obama has promoted new initiatives in energy, education and health care, we hear the conservative right screaming and yelling how irresponsible we are and how Obama is promoting socialism.

One would think that the Democratic Party is primarily responsible for this $10 trillion national debt that we are now saddled with as the new administration began.  Of course, the facts tell us otherwise.  If one looks at the statistics on the growth of our debt, we discover that it is the Republican party and its hell bent defense spending and tax cuts for the wealthy over the past thirty years that is the primary villain in this regard. 

When Democrat Jimmy Carter left office at the beginning of 1981, the nation had approximately a $1 trillion national debt.  Under Ronald Reagan, it tripled to $3 trillion, most of it spent on defense and on tax cuts to the wealthy which did not trickle down to the masses, as the rich got richer and the poor got poorer.  Under the first President Bush, it became more than $4 trillion.  With the administraition of Bill Clinton, the only Democrat in the period since 1980, the debt grew due to interest constantly being added, but Clinton actually created a balanced budget a number of times and added less to the debt than any Republican, and in that regard, he joined Jimmy Carter, whose earlier increase in the national debt was miniscule when compared to the future under the GOP.

So when George W. Bush became President in 2001, the debt was more than $5 trillion.  With the realization that September 11 added to the national burden, it is still a fact that Bush, by following the Reagan tax policy, ended up doubling the national debt to over $10 trillion, including the "socialistic" intervention in the financial crisis in his last few months in office. 

So from Reagan through the second Bush administration, Republican administrations added close to EIGHT trillion dollars to the debt, while Bill Clinton presided over a little more than ONE trillion added to the growing problem, but again avoiding massive increase in spending during his time. 

So who is to be criticized on the issue of the national debt and deficit spending?  Anyone who tries to be objective will recognize that talk radio and FOX News are creating their own propaganda, at a time when the country needs social and economic reform if the American dream is to be fulfilled after years of focusing only on defense and tax cuts on the wealthy!