Why are conservatives so dishonest about the national debt?
Question by Matthew D: Why are conservatives so dishonest about the national debt?
Conservatives tout that the US national debt is an emerging crisis that will soon bankrupt the United States. What they don’t say is that a little less than half is intragovernmental debt. That is, money the US government owes itself. After WWII the US owed 120% of its GDP in public debt. At this time it only owes about 84% and that figure includes the money the government owes itself. Public debt, what money the govermenet owes others, is about 60% of GDP or half the GDP to debt ratio after WWII.
Why do conservatives try to scare people about a problem that does not exist?
Best answer:
Answer by .
Because their presidents are the biggest contributors to it.
Know better? Leave your own answer in the comments!
And they only start complaining about the debt after Obama comes into office, after eight years of skyrocketing debt with Bush.
answer seems obvious to me. political gain.
Its called politics buddy. They need votes, so they craftily manipulate the truth to convince the public to join their position. Liberals do the same exact thing on different issues as well.
LOL! Well…the problem is there. There are some who debate about whether or not it is more beneficial to pay it off or to just leave it alone, but that doesnt mean that the problem does not exist.
In fact, many conservatives have taken the position in the past that debt that is owed back to ourselves would be more detrimental to the economy try to pay back, as it is akin to debt that is owed between family members.
However, someone below makes the point about social security….that is debt we owe to ourselves and that is something that is going to catch up with us sooner than we think. How do you propose that we deal with THAT? Do you see that as a non issue? I dont!
Just because there is a debate as to how best to handle this type of debt, does not meant the debt is good to have (or even irrelelavant) in the first place
http://www.usdebtclock.org/
I don’t see that number dropping you head in the sand lib.
Reagan TRIPLED our debt from 934B to 2.6 Trillion – (189%) – an increase of 24% EVERY YEAR
Bush DOUBLED our debt from 5.7 to 10.6 trillion – (91%) – an increase of 11% EVERY YEAR
Obama would have to overspend by 23 trillion in 8 years just to equal reagans spending
Source: US Treasury Dept – Bureau of Public Debt – http://www.treasurydirect.gov/NP/BPDLogin?application=np
Your messiah is sinking this country faster than the captain of titanic. We don’t have the cash he is spending. Our credit is shot.
You forgot Obama’s actual deficit is only about $ 500 billion in 2009. Bush passed the stimulus in October 2008 (before Obama was elected and after the new governmental fiscal year began). Bush’s 2008 actual deficit was a staggering $ 1.4 trillion (1400 billion).
Because people always respond to hate and fear. And rarely check the facts.
An obligation is an obligation. Social security costs going forward will be huge, and social security taxes won’t begin to cover them.
they are the party which evokes fear in regular people
bekuz tha world has now be kame a liar…
to be fair the blunt ugly truth, most of the people who voted for mccain were old.
our debt is huge,it will strangle this country,social security is unsustainable,welfare is unsustainable,the just passed health care is unsustainable,and you want to use slight of hand and say it is nothing.
most conservatives today, at least the ones on this site and in the public eye are total douche-bags
You realize that the money is still OWED right???
It has to be paid back with interest.
“Why do conservatives try to scare people about a problem that does not exist?”
Amazing how under Reagan and bush, the national debt and deficit was a horrible problem that needed to be solved (recall that Clinton ran on deficit reduction). Now that a Dem is in the White House, controls both houses of congress, and borrowing more money than all Presidents combined, now its “a problem that doesnt exist”
Hi Dirty Sanchez mustache. Still blindly hating your neighbor for having different political views I see.
Why did liberals make that same claim during the Bush years. And the election?
The dishonesty you are complaining about works both ways. And until people have the intellectual honesty to admit it, we are doomed to this unending cycle.
It’s all about politics and power.
And if you are going to throw stones, make sure you’re not in a glass house.