The United States has had public debt since its inception. Debts incurred during the American Revolution and under the articles of confederation led to the first yearly reported value of $75,463,476.52 on January 1, 1791. Over the following 45 years, the debt grew, briefly contracted to zero on January 8, 1835 with President Andrew Jackson but then quickly grew into the millions again.
The first dramatic growth spurt of the debt occurred because of the Civil War. The debt was just $65 million in 1860, but passed $1 billion in 1863 and had reached $2.7 billion following the war. The debt slowly fluctuated for the rest of the century, finally growing steadily in the 1910s and early 1920s to roughly $22 billion as the country paid for involvement in World War I.
The buildup and involvement in World War II social programs during the F.D. Roosevelt and Truman presidencies in the 1930s and '40s caused a sixteenfold increase in the gross debt from $16 billion in 1930 to $260 billion in 1950.
After this period, the growth of the gross debt closely matched the rate of inflation where it tripled in size from $260 billion in 1950 to around $909 billion in 1980. Gross debt in nominal dollars quadrupled during the Reagan and Bush presidencies from 1980 to 1992. The Public debt quintupled in nominal terms.
In nominal dollars the public debt rose and then fell between 1992 and 2000 from $3T in 1992 to $3.4T in 2000. During the administration of President George W. Bush, the gross debt increased from $5.6 trillion in January 2001 to $10.7 trillion by December 2008, rising from 58% of GDP to 70.2% of GDP. The lack of fiscal responsibility and policies will burden our next generations in ways that we currently cannot comprehend. Under the Obama administration, the madness continues… We observe that since starting in March 2009, the Congressional budget office estimated that gross debt will rise from 70.2% of GDP in 2008 to 100.6% in 2012.
Our economy and middle class will continue to erode until there will only be two classes, the haves…and the have nots. This "spend first and ask questions later" form of government continues to mathematically bury Americans and cover over its sins with each new graduating class. Just look at the last set of numbers in the paragraph above…It’s estimated that the gross debt is equally to the gross national product of our nation. And that debt is no longer sponsored by fellow Americans and North American Banks and investors…that debt is serviced by our world competitors, and enemies.
There are Biblical comparisons that can be made to this sort of hysteria and poor decisions. Around the Christmas table, the conversation will again be sobering…as we get closer and closer to our destiny as a debtor nation. I hope I’m wrong, but I hear those Pied Pipes leading us closer and closer to rushing waves…They’re getting louder and louder every day.
| Year | Gross Debt in Billions undeflated[10] | as % of GDP | Debt Held By Public ($Billions) | as % of GDP |
| 1910 | 2.6 | unk. | 2.6 | unk. |
| 1920 | 25.9 | unk. | 25.9 | unk. |
| 1928 | 18.5[11] | unk. | 18.5 | unk. |
| 1930 | 16.2 | unk. | 16.2 | unk. |
| 1940 | 50.6 | 52.4 | 42.8 | 44.2 |
| 1950 | 256.8 | 94.0 | 219.0 | 80.2 |
| 1960 | 290.5 | 56.0 | 236.8 | 45.6 |
| 1970 | 380.9 | 37.6 | 283.2 | 28.0 |
| 1980 | 909.0 | 33.4 | 711.9 | 26.1 |
| 1990 | 3,206.3 | 55.9 | 2,411.6 | 42.0 |
| 2000 | 5,628.7 | 58.0 | 3,409.8 | 35.1 |
| 2001 | 5,769.9 | 57.4 | 3,319.6 | 33.0 |
| 2002 | 6,198.4 | 59.7 | 3,540.4 | 34.1 |
| 2003 | 6,760.0 | 62.6 | 3,913.4 | 35.1 |
| 2004 | 7,354.7 | 63.9 | 4,295.5 | 37.3 |
| 2005 | 7,905.3 | 64.6 | 4,592.2 | 37.5 |
| 2006 | 8,451.4 | 65.0 | 4,829.0 | 37.1 |
| 2007 | 8,950.7 | 65.6 | 5,035.1 | 36.9 |
| 2008 | 9,985.8 | 70.2 | 5,802.7 | 40.8 |
| 2009 | 12,311.4 | 86.1 | 7,811.1 | 54.6 |
| 2010 (2 Nov) | 13,724.0 | 93.2 (3rd Q) | 9,133.6 | 62.0 (3rd Q) |
The startling numbers and indicators reveal our lack of leadership by decision makers today.
(under Presdient George Bush alone, the debt doubled by 5 trillion dollars in just 8 years, with the help of President Obama, that figure is up an addional 40% tipping out at just under 14 trillion dollars, expected to be 100% of GDP before he leaves office in 2012)
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