The National Debt and the Obama administrations first year in office

I came across this from another conservative commentator and thought I'd repost it in it's entirety here for those interested. I will also follow it with some brief comments of my own to keep this thing from being completely plagerized.

"How many times have we heard Obama say that he "inherited" the problems we now have? And one of those problems is our national debt. So it is time to take a good look at that debt, and how we got where we are:At the end of 2000, our national debt was $5.6278 trillion. During the first six years of the Bush administration, and under a Republican held Congress and Senate, our debt increased to $8.4514 trillion (at the end of 2006, the year the Democrats took control of both Houses). An increase of $470.45 billion a year ($2.8227 trillion in six years). Remember that number; $470.45 billion/year.Within two years (at the end of 2008) of Democratic control, our nation debt had increased to $9.985 trillion, an annual average of $767.2 billion, almost $300 billion a year more than under Republicans.In the 8 years of the Bush administration, our national debt increased by $4.2988 trillion.At the end of 2009, the first year of the Obama administration, our national debt had risen to $12.3114 trillion, an increase in one year $2.3265 TRILLION. ONE YEAR, only $500 billion less than the entire first six years of George Bush.Our projected national debt at the end of this year is over $14 trillion. That means that in just two years, Obama, and the Democratically held Congress will have increased our debt by more than Bush did the whole 8 years he held office.I don't want to read one more person on the left complain about the debt that was created under Bush or the Republicans. Not one."

The numbers there are pretty solid and while they again show us that congressional Republicans and President Bush were not fiscally conservative as many of us expected, the Obama administration and congressional Democrats have increased spending at an incredible pace. Some might wonder where this massive spending increase has come from and to me, the first thing that comes to mind is the 780 billion dollar "stimulus" package that Obama pushed Congress to pass in January 2009 with the expectation that it would keep unemployment under 8%, today it is at 9.7%. Think that's bad? Well keep in mind that even though a large portion of that approved stimulus as yet to be spent the Obama administration is starting to push for yet another stimulus package. Perhaps the slogan on that one should read, "third times the charm."

Back to the topic of the national debt. Keep in mind that those numbers don't even take into effect the costs that will take effect should Congress pass the healthcare legislation. So far according to a WSJ editorial written by Congressman Paul Ryan the costs in deficit for this program over the next ten years would add 460-1.4 trillion bucks. That's all for one program and that's the best case scenario we can hope for. The more likely scenario would have this program ballooning in costs as Medicare has done and as the state provided medical care in Mass. has done. Either way you slice it we are spending at unprecedented levels and it will be much better for us to become fiscally responsible as a country by our own choice before we are forced into it.

-Zach