Here's a year by year timeline of US national debt. The take away is that for the most part presidents both added to and paid down on the nations debts. It slowly grew to 900 billion over the course of 39 presidents and 200 years. Then came Reagan, Reagan paid down nothing and in 8 short years tripled our nations debt and set the course for presidents going forward. The last president to actually pay down on our nations debt a little was Eisenhower, 1957!!!!!!!
US National Debt by Year – Polidiotic
Gary Johnson would do things differently.
National debt of $20 trillion is obscene & unsustainable
By the time Barack Obama leaves office, the national debt will be $20 TRILLION. That is not just obscene, it is unsustainable. Responsibility for the years of deficit spending that have created our debt crisis rests squarely with BOTH the Republicans and the Democrats. The debt doubled under President George W. Bush--and doubled again under President Obama. During that time, both parties enjoyed control of Congress, and the deficit spending just kept piling up.
It doesn't have to be that way, despite what the politicians say. Governor Johnson has pledged that his first major act as President will be to submit to Congress a truly balanced budget. No gimmicks, no imaginary cuts in the distant future. Real reductions to bring spending into line with revenues, without tax increases. No line in the budget will be immune from scrutiny and reduction. And he pledges to veto any legislation that will result in deficit spending. No excuses. No games. A REAL balanced budget.
Gary Johnson on Budget & Economy
