Democratic party has some major problems

[Charity Case]

I think both.  It was necessary and mistakes were made.  I think Bush has been dealt a very bad hand as president.  Imagine you follow 8 years of nothing happening to the US with the 9/11 attacks and then Katrina.  I don't think any president has had to deal with so much since WWII.  So, yes there was no way to avoid the growing deficit IMO, and yes there have been many mistakes made...there is no question about it.

[POPmetal]

You're welcome y'all.

Sterling, here's a graph that shows the deficit per GDP since 1940


it's from this website
http://www.marktaw.com/culture_and_media/TheNationalDebt.html


I wouldn't say it was unavoidable for the deficit to grow, however, for that to happen either:
1) a lot of spending would have to been cut, which would be unpopular so few politician want to do it.
2) tax cuts would have had to been smaller, which would have made the recovery from the recession much slower, so Bush would be getting criticized for slow economic growth and high unemployment instead of the current "tax cuts for the rich" mantra

[sandman]

great stuff. thanks popmetal.

people are brainwashed into thinking debt is bad. debt very often is good. (most of us wouldn't have a house without it.)

[SLCPUNK]

The main problem is that it is increasing exponentially. It represents a 666 billion dollars in what could have been investment money for this country. Investment capital that creates jobs, and better technology. We take a double hit on this money as well, since a lot of it comes back as government debt. More than anything it represents energy (a truly consumed item). We give the money to a country, who then sell us something we set on fire, and then we go back to that foreigner and borrow the money back. His asset value is increasing, because the interest we owe is an asset on his books. We are carrying the debt all over the place, in the 666 billion account transfer and the money we will owe that country for the next 30 years. BOTH of these activities represent loss of investment capital for this country, and the human misery it may also create in the meantime (third hit= the people.)

At the center of all this is our insatiable appetite to burn oil, which is becoming more unproductive in relation to the economic value we derive from it.

[Dr. Blutarsky]

We give the money to a country, who then sell us something we set on fire, and then we go back to that foreigner and borrow the money back.

Yes, because we bomb every country we do business with.

Not all the governments decisions are brilliant, but you make out the USA to be the worst, meanest heartless country on the planet.

[SLCPUNK]

We give the money to a country, who then sell us something we set on fire, and then we go back to that foreigner and borrow the money back.

Yes, because we bomb every country we do business with.

Not all the governments decisions are brilliant, but you make out the USA to be the worst, meanest heartless country on the planet.

What in the hell are you talking about?