{"id":906,"date":"2013-05-06T12:59:53","date_gmt":"2013-05-06T17:59:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/napervilledemocrats.org\/ntdo\/?p=906"},"modified":"2013-05-06T12:59:53","modified_gmt":"2013-05-06T17:59:53","slug":"national-debt-a-short-history-spoiler-gop-created-it-to-force-cuts-in-social-programs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/napervilledemocrats.org\/ntdo\/national-debt-a-short-history-spoiler-gop-created-it-to-force-cuts-in-social-programs\/","title":{"rendered":"National Debt: A Short History (Spoiler: GOP created it to force cuts in social programs)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Professor Krugman, in knocking down some common excuses for not providing the fiscal boost our economy should be getting right now<\/a>, addresses the one that says, “…the reality is that governments never pay down debt in good times.” (Emphasis added.<\/strong>)<\/p>\n

What about the supposed inability of governments to pay down debt in good times? Well, here\u2019s the ratio of gross debt (including the Social Security trust fund) to GDP:<\/p>\n

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Hmm. Between World War II and 1980, every US president left the debt ratio lower when he left office than when he entered. Reagan\/Bush I broke that pattern; Clinton brought it back; then came Bush II. And yes, debt is up under Obama, but a depressed economy in a liquidity trap is precisely when you\u2019re supposed to do that.<\/p>\n

So the story isn\u2019t \u201cirresponsible politicians will always squander the good years\u201d; it is \u201cconservative Republican politicians run up debt even in good years, because they want to force cuts in social programs.\u201d<\/strong> Kind of a different story, isn\u2019t it?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n