PAYING LESS THAN HALF OF WHAT YOU'RE MAKING IN YOUR 401K:

Bush's fiscal legacy: bigger debt (Peter Grier, 9/27/07, The Christian Science Monitor)

During his time in office, federal debt held by the public – Washington's equivalent of a credit-card balance – will have increased by more than 50 percent, to about $5.5 trillion. Uncle Sam will be paying interest on that sum for years to come.

Much of that borrowed money paid for military expenses after the 9/11 attacks – spending unanticipated when Mr. Bush took office. Measured against the size of the US economy, the public debt isn't far outside historical norms.

Except that it obviously shouldn't be measured against historic norms but against similar periods of world war. For example, British debt hit 250% of GDP by the time they'd defeated Napoleon and American debt was 150% of GDP by the time WWII ended. Or, consider that American household net worth under President Bush has hit $55 trillion--that number coming after debt (government and consumer) is deducted.

Posted by Orrin Judd at September 26, 2007 6:16 PM