U.S. National Debt Adjusted For Inflation
This is a graph of the national debt adjusted for inflation - thanks to U.S. National Debt Clock FAQ by Ed Hall. I downloaded it this morning after listening to a radio show which traced the country's debt orgy back to Reagan. While I am happy to believe that Reagan started it all, I thought I ought to check it out. Sure enough, adjusted for inflation our national debt remained fairly constant, even through the Johnson administration and the Vietnam war. The spiral upwards begin shortly after 1980 and continues unabated until the Clinton administration when it abates and retreats. It then skyrockets over the last eight years. The point of the radio show was that so much of our recent growth was fueled simply by debt, national debt, corporate debt and personal debt. Keeping the interest rate almost at zero fueled the debt accumulation even further - particularly contributing to the real estate price spike. Now that we have reached some debt crisis the entire house of cards collapse...