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nuckles87 on 07 September 2012
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Lets not forget that 3.5 trillion of this is due to an economic recession which has lowered tax revenue and caused in increase in spending from federal safety net programs such as unemployment and food stamps.

The debt is a long term problem being exaserbated by a short term one, namely the economy. We need to grow ourselves out of this. We need to create new, temporary jobs by rebuilding and improving our D-grade infrastructure. Fixing up our high way system and transporation systems, building high speed rail, bringing our communication infrastructure into the 21st century by bringing high speed internet into rural areas where it is not yet profitable for private companies to do so. We did similar infrastructure projects in the 30s-50s, and it allowed business to thrive.We also need to put money into rehiring public servants such as teachers and policeman, and invest in giving them the tools they need to better do their jobs.

As Obama has said, no single business is built purely by one person. He or she relies on public infrastructure in order to do business. Better infrastructure means businesses are better able to thrive in the future.

These jobs are only temporary, but as has been done in the past, these jobs are meant to only jump start the economy so that consumers will have the money to begin buying products again, and allow new private businesses to thrive, begin hiring more people to keep up with demand, so that when these public projects are finished workers will have places to go in the private sector.

From there we need to end the Bush tax cuts. That added another 1.6 trillion to the deficit. ALL of them. Democrats haven't had the guts to say it, but history has shown that people don't need lower tax cuts to thrive. The 2000s had the slowest rate of job growth in 60 years. The middle class was perfectly able to thrive under higher taxes in previous decades, there is no reason why they cannot do so again.

There are other things that need to be done, of course, but I don't see a point in writing anything more. But here's a breakdown of the debt added on top of the 5.6 trillion debt we had at the end of 2000:

1.5 trillion from increased military spending

1.4 trillion from Iraq/Afganistan wars

1.4 trillion in incremental interest due to increased debt

0.9 trillion from stimulus and tax cuts under Barack Obama.

These costs may be shared between both Bush and Obama, but don't let yourselves be fooled into thinking that Obama and the democrats are the primary people responsible for the debt.

At the end of the final Bush budget in 2009, the debt was at 11.9 trillion.

Almost all of the primary debt increases are derived either from Bush policies or happened under Bush's watch. ALL of the major increases in the debt are either caused by the start of Bush policies things that happened under Bush's watch, or a reaction to things that happened under Bush's watch. Let's also not forget that Paul Ryan, John Boehner, Eric Cantor, and indeed most of the long time members of congressional GOP voted for everything that happened before 2009.

And now we have Romney, who wants to double down on these policies with FURTHER tax cuts, further military spending increases, and won't give us any specifics on what he'll cut in order to make it deficit neutral. Either he'll make himself a one term president by slashing government programs, or he'll go the Bush route and...not. Frankly, I expect the latter.

Democrats aint perfect of course. Most of them voted for these wars, and increases in military spending. Heck, some even voted for the Bush tax cuts (well, in the senate anyway). Obama has allowed most of Bush's spending policies to continue (though I'm pretty sure we can all agree that he couldn't let the Bush tax cuts expire in the middle of a recession, or with draw from Iraq and Afganistan the moment he took office without being incredibly irresponsible). Let's not delude ourselves that this is a one party problem.

But also lets not delude ourselves into thinking that this is all on Obama, or that CURRENT republican office holders who continue to hold office aren't also responsible for it. Including, of course, the current VP candidate. Let's not also delude ourselves into thinking that Romney is going to reduce the deficit while increasing military spending and decreasing tax cuts.