Trump Built a National Debt So Big...That It'll Weigh Down the Economy for Years

[Nevilledog]

https://www.propublica.org/article/national-debt-trump


One of President Donald Trump’s lesser known but profoundly damaging legacies will be the explosive rise in the national debt that occurred on his watch. The financial burden that he’s inflicted on our government will wreak havoc for decades, saddling our kids and grandkids with debt.

The national debt has risen by almost $7.8 trillion during Trump’s time in office. That’s nearly twice as much as what Americans owe on student loans, car loans, credit cards and every other type of debt other than mortgages, combined, according to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. It amounts to about $23,500 in new federal debt for every person in the country.

The growth in the annual deficit under Trump ranks as the third-biggest increase, relative to the size of the economy, of any U.S. presidential administration, according to a calculation by a leading Washington budget maven, Eugene Steuerle, co-founder of the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center. And unlike George W. Bush and Abraham Lincoln, who oversaw the larger relative increases in deficits, Trump did not launch two foreign conflicts or have to pay for a civil war.

Economists agree that we needed massive deficit spending during the COVID-19 crisis to ward off an economic cataclysm, but federal finances under Trump had become dire even before the pandemic. That happened even though the economy was booming and unemployment was at historically low levels. By the Trump administration’s own description, the pre-pandemic national debt level was already a “crisis” and a “grave threat.”

*snip*

[tanyev]

1. He said he would run the country like he ran his businesses, and he did.

[czarjak]

2. After declaring "George Bush was a disaster", he implemented Bush Policies on steroids.

The rich are richer at least?

[RainCaster]

3. Don't blame DFT alone-it took the whole GOP to do this

As much as I hate the former Orange Rapist, this has to be laid at the feet of the GOP. The whole party is to blame for this.

[MichMan]

4. And both branches of Congress that passed those spending bills

The President can't spend a dime without their approval.