Just so and Palerider know, I'm not an idiot. I'm well aware that the national debt is not the economy. When I said economy I made the enormous leap of logic that when the national debt is rising or staying the same but it is still the same (or decreasing) relative percentage of the GDP then that means the economy is growing. Phew that took some major brainpower to churn out.
And I like how it is always the conservative way to claim any economic growth even under a liberal president for their own. Cause apparently Bush was completely responsible for all the economic growth under Clinton right? And the economic fall under Reagan was Carter's fault right? Even though it occured after Reagan instituted his policies.
I just find irony in that the charts show distinctly that under both Bushes and Reagan we were either borrowing absurd amounts of money or the economy was collapsing, or both. Have your pick. And under Clinton things seemed headed in the right direction. Take a look at this link, I'm not sure why you all claim that Clinton destroyed the military, under him military spending remained almost constant. Charts showing the trail towards the end of his term are often attributed to a growing national budget where the % spent on defense decreased as a result but the actual cost stayed the same. I also find it ironic how many of you defend the tax cuts while increasing military spending. This is what republican presidents over the past thirty years have done, they cheat the system to look good for a year or two and then leave a mess for the next president, who if republican will continue with this "oh, look money grows on trees approach" toward the national debt, or if a democrat will actually try and stabilize spending.
And as far as some people saying the debt can be viewed as international investment need to review the reality of the situation. Every year we waste billions paying off the interest, this is not some sort of beneficial symbiotic relationship. This is really just a leech on our budget and economy.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2005/pdf/hist.pdf
