Weren't there some expensive wars around that time? I think I'm recalling that correctly. Seriously, though, a fairer point of comparison might be the late '60

Weren't there some expensive wars around that time? I think I'm recalling that correctly. Seriously, though, a fairer point of comparison might be the late '60s and early '70s - right when Boomers were entering adulthood. National debt as a percentage of GDP was in the 30s around then. Still, your response to the parent comment is still somewhat justified - yes, national debt is higher now, but it's not like it's orders of magnitude higher, right?