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Yakk · 06-16-2006, 09:55 PM

Don't be silly. The US Debt has gone down over Bush's tenure.

The value of the US dollar has dropped by about 33% since early in Bush's office. (compared against the Euro, CND, Oil, and (I suspect) many other currencies.)

The debt was about 5.5 trillion dollars at that time. While it is now about 8 trillion dollars, given the collapse of the US currency, this is only worth 5.3 trillion dollars in constant hard currency value.

Bush has cut taxes, increased spending, and reduced the size of the debt when measured by a hard currency.

US GNP is currently about 13 trillion dollars -- or 8.7 trillion in hard-currency 2000 values. In 2000, US GNP was about 10.5 trillion. That means the US only has to become 20% richer to recover to 2000 values of wealth, measured in hard currency.

On the plus side, measured at hard-currency values, the income of most of the lower classes in the USA has plummetted. So the lower total GNP doesn't reduce the number of lower class servants and domestic workers the upper class Americans can hire for an hours wages. In addition, cheaper labour for the production of imported luxuries for the upper class can be purchased in other nations. So the standard of living of the upper classes isn't really impacted by this massive drop in the real GNP of the USA.

Note that while a 20% drop in GNP over 6 years seems like alot, note that it would take 150 to 200 years for the US GNP to fall below current North Korean GDP. And given that North Korea, and other nations with similar economic power, are currently the #1 threat to the USA, it will take a long time before economic shrinkage at this rate will prevent the USA from defending itself from it's military enemies. So don't worry about the defence implications.

06-16-2006, 09:55 PM	#28 (permalink)
Yakk Wehret Den Anfängen! Location: Ontario, Canada	Don't be silly. The US Debt has gone down over Bush's tenure. The value of the US dollar has dropped by about 33% since early in Bush's office. (compared against the Euro, CND, Oil, and (I suspect) many other currencies.) The debt was about 5.5 trillion dollars at that time. While it is now about 8 trillion dollars, given the collapse of the US currency, this is only worth 5.3 trillion dollars in constant hard currency value. Bush has cut taxes, increased spending, and reduced the size of the debt when measured by a hard currency. US GNP is currently about 13 trillion dollars -- or 8.7 trillion in hard-currency 2000 values. In 2000, US GNP was about 10.5 trillion. That means the US only has to become 20% richer to recover to 2000 values of wealth, measured in hard currency. On the plus side, measured at hard-currency values, the income of most of the lower classes in the USA has plummetted. So the lower total GNP doesn't reduce the number of lower class servants and domestic workers the upper class Americans can hire for an hours wages. In addition, cheaper labour for the production of imported luxuries for the upper class can be purchased in other nations. So the standard of living of the upper classes isn't really impacted by this massive drop in the real GNP of the USA. Note that while a 20% drop in GNP over 6 years seems like alot, note that it would take 150 to 200 years for the US GNP to fall below current North Korean GDP. And given that North Korea, and other nations with similar economic power, are currently the #1 threat to the USA, it will take a long time before economic shrinkage at this rate will prevent the USA from defending itself from it's military enemies. So don't worry about the defence implications. __________________ Last edited by JHVH : 10-29-4004 BC at 09:00 PM. Reason: Time for a rest.