Managing debt in DC

[tectonic_drift]

I liked this article because it drew an interesting parallel: Paulson goes from leading Goldman Sachs-a company with a lot of debt to treasury secretary at a time when our national debt keeps growing. On a related note, I thought this was an interesting graph showing the national debt as a percentage of GDP. The ratio has fallen before, and I

Comments

[mcfnord]

I want to see the last two years added to the graph. Bush tax policy has cost more than any other factor. How can he justify it?

[tectonic_drift]

This npr story has a graphic illustrating 2005.

Believe me, I am the last one to defend Bush’s fiscal irresponsibility. The recent tax cuts make me very, very uncomfortable. I keep wondering what happened to the fiscally conservative Republicans!!!

[mcfnord]

I want smearing their recent record to be a priority for Democrats. We need to undo the illusion that Republicans are fiscally responsible, and claim that spot for ourselves. Recently a Yahoo Finance columnist described Republicans as more fiscally responsible. I went ballistic, as well as I could, and found in the forums that I wasn't the only one.

[reckless_rex]

"We need to undo the illusion that Republicans are fiscally responsible, and claim that spot for ourselves."

The first half is easy, but good luck with that second half since doing that would require making politically unpopular choices no matter which way you try to go.

While you're at it, please do try to hammer it into your party's head that markets are the solution, not the problem. The day I see a Democrat campaigning on reducing capital gains taxes to zero is the day I start canvassing for them.