By popular demand, the debt chart time phased by year and adjusted for inflation.
Scott, if you are the sort of fellow inclined to say 'I told you so', here's your chance.
Makes Clinton out to be a lot better, and Bush to look like even more of a train wreck …
(if you click on the chart it gets bigger and clearer)
Jasmin says
Do you think on top of that, you could add wars America has raised funds to finance? I’d be curious…..
Bill Waddell says
If I were to do that Jasmin all of my sensible friends, both here in the USA and over in your neck of the woods in New Zealand, would think me silly, naïve and irrelevant and we wouldn’t want that to happen, would we?
Willi Isaak says
When I was in the colonies at between 1998 and 2000 I was surprised by the big rate of consumer credit (mainly credit card debt). Very ironically the car sellers even offered to pay credit card debt when you purchase a new car. But according to this graph the consumer credit debt even increased afterwards. That’s awkward. Keeping in mind that a lot of people in Europe think that they are not like you guys over in the US I would really be interested how germans would look like, if you wold put the same measurements to our behaviour. Is there a chance to build up this chart Comparing Germany and the US? Where did you get this data?
Bill Waddell says
Willi,
The inflation, consumer and mortgage debt data came from the Federal Reserve, the public debt data is from the US Department of Treasury, and the population data is from the US Census Bureau.
I imagine the German government maintains the same data, and I am sure Germany would look much, much better by comparison. I am equally sure the rest of the EU would look about the same – maybe worse.
Bill
Jim Fernandez says
Thank you for all the work your putting into this issue.
I had intended to stay out of this discussion. I thought it would be over with your first post. But no, you keep trying to please your readers. So now I have to point out one glaring error in your premise.
The president does not pass, or vote on, any finical legislation. Oh sure he can rally the people behind an idea, but how much influence do the “people” have after their elected representatives are in office? The president signs the legislation but Congress can over ride a presidential veto.
So, in order to know who is really responsible for the “train wreck” you need to show which party had a majority in congress during each year on your chart.
Tony says
Bill, is the 2011 data for the whole year? Or did the US population suddenly increase? Because I’m pretty sure the US government has not been paying down debt. Nor have many state governments, either — maybe adding less debt, but not paying it off.
And,yes, the US has to make changes — what can’t continue forever, won’t. But it’s much less painful if you change behavior sooner (e.g. the housing bubble would’ve been much less painful if it had popped in 2004 (with 2003 as the peak) like it should have, instead of 2007).
Joel Bush says
You might also track, in addition to the President’s name, the party composition of Congress over time. This chart is excellent but likely overstates the role of one person.
It is also striking how easy it is to guess the moment the US left the last of any gold standard in monetary affairs. Gentlemen, start your presses. :)
Thanks for your work. Best.
Mark Welch says
I’ve never been a fan of LBJ particularly, but considering he had the Vietnam “Conflict” and started Medicare, his numbers look pretty respectable.
Bill Waddell says
Tony,
The 2011 data is through May 31. I’m sure Obama and the folks in Congress will pile on quite a bit more before the year is over.
Jasmin says
Hmm I phrased that really badly.
I was more curious about how much of the impact on public debt was a result of military activities outside of the US.
ken says
love to see it with congress/senate control rather than presidential. Regan, Bush 1, & Clinton eras would tell a much different story. So would the Bush2 era if you redefine the RINO crowd. Not making excuses for him, he’s the Carter (maybe Obama now) of the Republican party.
Dick Kusleika says
Is the source data available somewhere? I mean short of compiling it myself.
Bill Waddell says
Dick,
I you are asking if I merely graphed the results of someone else’s math the answer is no. To check or duplicate the results you have to go to the various sites mentioned (Fed, Treasury, Census) and spend an hour on Excel. The data is very easy to find, however.
Bill