Quote:
Originally Posted by stekim";p="
We dealt with 20 trillion in debt. LOL.
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Those raw figures mean nothing. What you need to look at is the ratio of the national debt to the GDP. I could say how terrible it is that I owe $100,000 this year in debt over the amount of debt I owed 5 years ago. But if I take into account that I now make a whole lot more money than I did 5 years ago......it's less significant. The percentage of my debt to what I bring in (my debt/income ratio) may be even less. Plus, the cost of borrowing that money is low and inflation is low; helps to make that figure more likely that I can repay it. It's all relative.
In 2004, America’s $4.3 trillion debt represented 38 percent of its $11.6 trillion GDP. Despite all the hand-wringing over increased budget deficits, the 38 percent debt ratio is actually below the post–World War II average of 43 percent. Conse(*)quently, America’s debt burden is actually low by historical standards. And BTW, that debt ratio was 49% in 1994. So, it's even improved since then. In fact, the current debt ratio is below the level for every year of the 1990's.
Since 1946, inflation-adjusted debt has grown by 84 percent, but the economy has grown by 429 percent— more than five times as fast. It is not surprising that recent budget deficits have not dev(*)astated the economy.
That being said, we should always work towards cutting the spending and therefore bringing the debt figures down.