2.7182818284590... wrote:
> From: http://zfacts.com/metaPage/lib/National-Debt-GDP-L.gif
>
> According to this graph, the debt has went down precipitously since
> WWII under every administration, except Ronald Reagan, who
> aggressively increased it. Reagan increased the debt a *lot*, in
> both, absolute and relative terms.
>
Very much so.
> I was under the impression that Bush II out-did Reagan, but I see that
> Bush II did *not* outdo Reagan.
Not yet, anyway.
> I also didn't realize that Bush I
> engaged in deficit spending.
>
This graph illustrates to me that the political process has
reversed the roles that people traditionally assign to Democrats
and Republicans. And nobody's screaming about this. The talking
heads still attack the Dems as "tax and spend", almost 30 years
later.
> What is your opinion of this data regarding Bush II's deficit spending
> data?
It's probably pretty sound.
> I'm under the impression that some of the debt/deficit was
> *HIDDEN*, and that the Republicans did not factor in the money for the
> War. Does this data look accurate to you?
Pretty much, yeah. Here's unemployment data for roughly the same
period. Look how closely the low-frequency component of unemployment
data matches the inverse of the debt curve.
There's a higher-frequency "recession"/business cycle component that
overlays the longer component, but there's almost a direct match for
the long-term trends.
It would be interesting to do a deconvolution on these "signals".
--
Les Cargill
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