Creative Statistics Hide US Contraction; Trillion in Debt?

our ability to pay the debt is increasing... not decreasing. Many people don't realize this. I also thought it was well known what our debt was?

The US national debt isn't near the problem everyone tries to make it out to be. Anyone who doesn't believe me ask your economics professor and he'll surely tell you the same thing.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...&type=business

Quote:

But economists tend to look at the national debt as a percentage of the gross domestic product -- the sum total of all goods and services. This links the debt level to the nation's ability to pay and factors out inflation over time.

By this measure, the national debt has ebbed and flowed with world and political currents. According to historical tables in the 2006 federal budget, debt peaked at 121.7 percent of GDP in 1946 because of World War II spending. It fell to about 33 percent of GDP in 1980, then roughly doubled to the 60 percent range during the administrations of President Ronald Reagan and the first President George Bush.

After hitting 67.3 percent of GDP in 1996, a few rare budget surpluses during the Clinton era drove the national debt back down to about 57 percent in 2001. Honestly, i hadn't checked the statistics recently so my previous statement was slightly off.

Debt as a percentage of GDP turned up again as the Bush administration began running deficits and now stands at an estimated 65.7 percent of GDP. The 2006 budget forecast predicts that the national debt will be 70 percent of GDP in 2010.

So basically the trend has been lowering. However, i guess that's changed a bit since bush took office, but you see my point... Its better looked at this way.

Also its important to remember that nearly HALF of the national debt is goverment owing other parts of government money. It doesn't even involve the private sector.

There's nowhere I can't reach.