A big national debt and big spending are scary. They sure scare me. But I’m sure most of you have heard the saying, “It’s easier to scare people than to find the facts.”
What facts?
Well, in 1981, the national debt was almost $1 trillion. This was debt left over from World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War and the huge interstate highway system of the ’50s and ’60s.
Then our debt jumped from $1 trillion to nearly $3 trillion under Reagan’s two terms. It tripled and no war? Under Bush Sr., the debt went up from $3 trillion to $4.6 trillion in one term.
Then under Clinton’s two terms it went up only $1 trillion. When the second Bush was elected, the debt was at about $5.5 trillion; and when he left office, the debt was $13.5 trillion. That’s an $8 trillion increase in eight years.
Now the math is not difficult: $1 trillion before Reagan, $1 trillion under Clinton. So that is $2 trillion subtracted from $13.5 trillion. Therefore, under Reagan, Bush Sr. and G.W. Bush, the national debt went up $11.5 trillion. I’m not very good with figuring percentages, but I think this means those three presidents in their combined 20 years in office spent 85 percent of the total national debt. I thought they were the fiscal conservatives.
I’ll vote Republican as soon as the “red states” pay off the “Republican debt.”
—B. Zoeller
Oklahoma City
This article appears in Jan 26 – Feb 1, 2011.