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mmon/dotclear.gif] National Debt
has increased more under Obama than under Bush By Mark Knoller
<http://www.cbsnews.com/8300-503544_162-503544.html?contributor=41947>
Topics Campaign 2012
<http://www.cbsnews.com/8300-503544_162-503544.html?categoryId=10457891>
[Chart - Deficit 2012] (Credit: CBS) (CBS News) The National Debt has
now increased more during President Obama's three years and two months
in office than it did during 8 years of the George W. Bush presidency.
The Debt rose $4.899 trillion during the two terms of the Bush
presidency. It has now gone up $4.939 trillion since President Obama
took office.
The latest posting from the Bureau of Public Debt at the Treasury
Department shows the National Debt now stands at $15.566 trillion. It
was $10.626 trillion on President Bush's last day in office, which
coincided with President Obama's first day.
The National Debt also now exceeds 100% of the nation's Gross Domestic
Product, the total value of goods and services.
Mr. Obama has been quick to blame his predecessor for the soaring Debt,
saying Mr. Bush paid for two wars and a Medicare prescription drug
program with borrowed funds.
The federal budget sent to Congress last month by Mr. Obama, projects
the National Debt will continue to rise as far as the eye can see. The
budget shows the Debt hitting $16.3 trillion in 2012, $17.5 trillion in
2013 and $25.9 trillion in 2022.
Federal budget records show the National Debt once topped 121% of GDP
at the end of World War II. The Debt that year, 1946, was, by today's
standards, a mere $270 billion dollars.
Mr. Obama doesn't mention the National Debt much, though he does want
to be seen trying to reduce the annual budget deficit, though it's
topped a trillion dollars for four years now.
As part of his "Win the Future" program, Mr. Obama called for "taking
responsibility for our deficits, by cutting wasteful, excessive spending
wherever we find it."
His latest budget projects a $1.3 trillion deficit this year declining
to $901 billion in 2012, and then annual deficits in the range of $500
billion to $700 billion in the 10 years to come.
If Mr. Obama wins re-election, and his budget projections prove
accurate, the National Debt will top $20 trillion in 2016, the final
year of his second term. That would mean the Debt increased by 87
percent, or $9.34 trillion, during his two terms.
* Mark Knoller
<http://www.cbsnews.com/8300-503544_162-503544.html?contributor=41947>
Mark Knoller is a CBS News White House correspondent.
