Donald Trump claimed on the campaign trail that, as president, he would completely eliminate the then–$19 trillion in national debt. Let’s just say he’s not exactly on track.
Since he made that promise in early 2016, the debt has ballooned to $21.7 trillion, and his tax cuts are expected to drive that number higher.
But before you jump on the Trump-bashing bandwagon, it might be helpful to see how we got in this debt-riddled position.
Cost-estimating website HowMuch.net crunched numbers from the U.S. Treasury as well as various data points uncovered by the Balance to come up with this colorful, and very telling, history of America’s debt problem:
Of note, the visual lumps together all the presidents from 1780 to 1913 and uses inflation-adjusted dollars to make a fair comparison.
As you can see, Barack Obama takes the crown with almost $9 trillion added to the heap, though Trump may surpass that by the time he’s done. Percentage-wise, however, Ronald Reagan gets the nod, considering U.S. debt nearly tripled during his terms.
Here’s another look at how we got here from earlier in the year, when the debt first broke the $20 trillion barrier:
It’s not all about the president, of course. He submits the budget, but fiscal policies are ultimately set by Congress. More important, outside factors like downturns and wars obviously make for uneven comparisons.
Dick Cheney once famously said, “Deficits don’t matter.” As it stands now, the country and the economy just keep plugging along even as the debt continues to grow. But how long can that last?
HowMuch.net’s Raul Amoros referred to Earnest Hemingway’s response when asked how he’d gone bankrupt. “Gradually, then suddenly,” the author quipped.
We have met the enemy and he is us. We will reap what we have sown.
Maybe we need Elon Musk to tackle this problem.
Interesting historical footnote – outgoing President Bush Jr. refused to sign the final monstrous kitchen sink budget sent to him by the Democrat Congress (voted yes by Senator Obama) but somehow that $trillion ends up in Bush’s column and not Obama’s column.
This situation is like having a gangrenous foot and thinking that that will have to be dealt , at some point…Always in the future…Since the 1960’s this gangrene has progressed from the toe to the foot to the whole damn leg.!! In my 50 years of concern and thinking about this, I have reached a conclusion: It is too damn late and the situation will now deal with us on terms we will not dictate. Or enjoy..In fact “IT” has been dealing to us since the early 1980’s when wages stagnated and costs of living kept rising, forcing the middle class slowly down-down-FUCKING DOWN!!!!! Fake News, Fake Budgets, Fake Money, Fake Governance, Fake Tits, did I miss anything?! What will be REAL will be the moaning and crying and wailing when the Fake finally fails….Have a nice day.
Be a Prepper not a Schlepper. The Welfare Plantation is a Democrat Vote Factory but a food and fuel Death Trap for the Useful Idiots when the dollar crashes (hyperinflation). Global Warming is another TPTB lie and Death Trap set-up to freeze and starve the Useful Idiots during the Eddy Minimum. Don’t cast your pearls before swine: the fool ignores danger but the Prudent Man prepares (Prov 22:3).
Trump’s not done. He is clearly building tension between the government and the central bank. We’ll see if it is a fight he can win, but I think it is reasonably possible, maybe even probable, he dramatically reduces our national debt.
No, Trump is not going to cut spending dramatically, or raise tax revenues. I think as part of his fight with the feds, he is going to have the treasury mint a couple of 1 ounce platinum coins (4? 30?) and stamp something like ‘$1 Trillion’ on them, and deposit them at the fed, to cancel (some/all/even more than all) of the government debt that the central bank holds. Some portion of our money will be minted into existence rather than borrowed into existence. Our government can print money, and if you can print money, why would you borrow it and pay interest on it?
Our national debt has been paid off before, and we Americans have killed our central bank 3 times already; unfortunately it was set up a fourth time. Pun intended.
Here’s another example of doublethink: We Americans. It’s never simply congress’ fault or Wall Street or the shooter’s fault, it’s ‘us’. If anything goes wrong there is no individual culpability because it is society’s fault.
We have met the perps and it’s us. Morans, stop repeating the BS.
I agree, long ago I realized its our fault. We the average citizen keep voting for ‘stupid’. We need to own this.
One day, ‘stupid’ will run out of excuses, we will be broke and discover all the ‘stupids’ are wealthy. The last 42 years has proved this true. The Bushes, Clinton’s, Obama and their ilk, are the definition of stupid. IMHO Trump is on the fence when it comes to the debt, my bet is it will at least equal Obama’s increase. I had forecasted 32 Trillion total debt under Hillary, hope Trump is lower.
Pssst, it’s the FED.
Who built the pyramid? That’s easy! Ancient Aliens did! I saw it on the History channel so it’s gotta be true.
I believe it was the Jews…..or am I thinking of the wrong pyramids?
Marketwatch, you’re totally out of date. An EXTRA $21.5 Trillion is owned and unaccounted for by DOD and HUD. As a result of the investigation, now the total Fed budget is classified:
In our debt based fiat money system, debt must increase every year or the system collapses. We are far up the exponential curve/hockey stick. There is no way the Trump Presidency will not incur more debt than Obama without it all crashing down. Thems the facts about debt based currency. Thank the FED.