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The effort to blame President Barack Obama for the size of our national debt is just one example. A recent letter to the editor stated, "Since the Democrats have run up the national debt into trillions of dollars …"
This statement is totally misleading. When Gerald Ford left office in 1978, the debt was $706 billion and increased to $994 billion under Jimmy Carter. Here's where it gets interesting. After eight years of Ronald Reagan, the debt tripled to $2.9 trillion. And when George H.W. Bush left office in 1993, debt had increased by nearly one-third to $4.4 trillion.
During Bill Clinton's eight-year presidency, the debt increased to $5.8 trillion, but had leveled off thanks to three consecutive years of budget surplus, largely as a result of tax increases he pushed through Congress. Unfortunately, when George W. Bush took office in 2001, he cut taxes, failed to pay for two wars and the Part D drug benefit, and the national debt exploded. Consequently, in June 2009 the debt was $11.4 trillion.
Because of a severe drop in federal revenues because of the deep recession and increased federal aid to businesses and the states, plus tax cuts for individuals, the federal debt stood at $13.3 trillion Aug. 6. Clearly, to blame our national debt on Democrats is disingenuous. Republicans are the main culprits.
Tom Israel
Hilton Head Island
