There have been multiple, continuous attacks – by email, FaceBook, talk radio, cable commentators – blaming the Obama administration for our nation’s debt.

It’s worth a look.

This chart shows the last 200 years of Gross Federal Debt. The spikes in our debt (yes, our debt*) in the last 100 years appears to have begun at:
1917 – World War I
1929 – The Great Depression
1941 – World War II
1980 – The early 1980s recession – a severe global economic recession, including a crisis in the U.S. Savings and Loan Industry. With debt mounting during the Reagan administration years.
1990’s – The debt appears to have dropped during the Clinton (and Gingrich) years. Perhaps the foundation for the turnaround was laid earlier by George H.W. Bush (the elder), when he agreed to raise several existing taxes as part of a debt-reduction compromise with congressional democrats. (For which he was pilloried by many in his own party, and some outside.) But it appears to have worked and set the country on a better fiscal path.
2001 – Afghanistan War. Iraq War. Income tax and capital gains taxes were cut. Tax receipts declined as a % of GDP. The national debt reversed direction, and climbed dramatically from 2001-2008.

Free-market ideology had called for a decreased emphasis on government regulation and oversight. The sub-prime mortgage crisis worsened. Dramatic government intervention was initiated (by the George W. Bush and Obama administrations) to bailout damaged financial (and other) institutions and a weakening economy.

There are those who stridently endeavor to blame the current national debt on Obama and the democrats. True, they earn their fair share of criticism.

But we need to keep it truthful and factual. Most of the attacks are neither.

As independent Senator Bernie Sanders said:

“This country does in fact have a serious deficit problem, but the reality is that the deficit was caused by two wars — unpaid for. It was caused by huge tax breaks for the wealthiest people in this country. It was caused by a recession as result of the greed, recklessness and illegal behavior on Wall Street.”
– Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Senate Budget Committee, 11-18-2011

His comments on Youtube at: http://youtu.be/nG6YlLf98FU

* And, this reminder of why we (all of us) should care: Doorbell

(If viewing Doorbell.wmv above won’t work, go to:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqoGORXAv2o )

– Jerry Guzi