Here is a quick look at total debt as accumulated by each US President.
Its kinda funny — how come so few people (especially those on the right) were all that upset about the massive surge in debt under Bush? Is it that they only recently kinda figured out the significance of debt — or are they are merely hypocrites when it comes to this sort of thing?
Whatever your political or economic views are, it is not up to me to tell you what to believe. However, you need to be intellectually consistent and not merely grab whatever ideological bullet point that suits your purposes at the moment. If you do so, you best be prepared to be charged with being intellectually dishonest, and to be categorized as called a political hack. Or worse.
When Romney wins in 2012, I expect most of the deficit hysteria to disappear.
This chart below is for the Austerians of today:
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click for larger graphic
Source: Spiegel