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Stop fabricating numbers. The US National debt is about $14.5 trillion, not anywhere close to 54 trillion. Btw, the Bush tax cuts — costing $1.8 trillion from
by reader2000 15y ago
Stop fabricating numbers. The US National debt is about $14.5 trillion, not anywhere close to 54 trillion.
Btw, the Bush tax cuts — costing $1.8 trillion from 2002 to 2009 — are a big reason we got into this deep hole.
Buffet: I would note that a net of nearly 40 million jobs were added between 1980 and 2000. You know what’s happened since then: lower tax rates and far lower job creation.
- webXL 15y agoBuffet who should know better: correlation doesn't imply causation
- swolchok 15y agoHad you checked the first google result for United States debt, you would have found where the confusion is coming from: the national debt is 14.5 trillion, and the total debt is 54 trillion (Source: http://www.usdebtclock.org/ http://www.usdebtclock.org/). I'm guessing "total debt" according to the debt clock includes things like state governments and private citizens, although Wikipedia claims that the 14.5 trillion figure is total debt (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_public_debt http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_public_debt).
- mnemonicsloth 15y agoIt's not a made-up number. US debt to bondholders is around $14.5 trillion. The US also promised Medicare and Social Security payments to retirees that are underfunded by $59 trillion: http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-05-28-federal-budget_N.htm http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-05-28-federal-b... The numbers will vary here according to longevity and interest rates, but the bill is huge, and it will have to be paid with tax money.
- orangecat 15y agoYou know what’s happened since then: lower tax rates and far lower job creation. By this logic, we should undo the large increases in government spending since 2000 as well. Works for me.