We are so far in debt we may not see daylight for decades.

[kentuck]

This wartime president has given away the store. He has put America in a dangerous position. We cannot continue to borrow from the future to pay for his ill-advised adventures. He has destroyed the credibility of conservatives forever - at least the ones that have supported his radical policies. He is no conservative. He is the most radical president in our lifetimes and perhaps in the lifetime of our country.

There is no technological revolution on the horizon to help us grow out of this mess as it did with the Reagan/Bush mess from the 80's. There is no light at the end of this tunnel. Mr Bush is putting our country in a deep, deep hole. And he continues telling his supporters to keep on digging.

[Career Prole]

1. You wanna know what bugs me about this?

All the websites and e-mails I get telling me "Your share of this debt is umpteen thousand dollars".
They should split that nut up among the people who voted for the Chimp in 2000 when they figure out "shares"...it's their damned bill!
Last time we held the national checkbook we had a pile of money in the account.
:grr:

[BlueJazz]

2. ...And his illogical supporters continue to scream....

"He gave us Tax Cuts"
"He gave us Tax Cuts"
"He gave us Tax Cuts"

They fail to understand that Georgie-Clown is just sticking
the debt and their tax-cuts up their asses.

I can give myself a HUGE bonus today and by tonight have lots and lots of "Toys" such as big screen TV, new Car, New 64 bit computer....... unfortunately ...next month when the Visa bill comes, I'll be singing the "Poor Blues"...

[Ravenseye]

6. People don't understand what the deficit means to them...

they scream 'he gave us tax cuts' but from where?

the surplus disapeared. those tax cuts are from borrowed money.

The best analogy was that Bush went to every home in america and gave them a fancy $1000 television.

(whatever the cost for the average amount that people got 1200 or something, even though that 'average' is skewed in the way that if you had 10 people one of them Bill Gates and the other 9 unemployed, the average tax cut would be hundreds of thousands of dollars or even millions)

Anyway everyone is happy. Yay! Bush gave us a tv! Problem is Bush charged it to your credit card with huge intrest rate, and that 1000 dollar tv he bought you is going to cost you 20 grand to pay off yourself.

Yay! Bush gave us a tv!

dumbasses

[HysteryDiagnosis]

3. Perhaps it profits someone somewhere who holds the debt... perhaps

this is by design. Then again.. why can't someone be prosecuted for indebting a nation to the tune that this joker has done??

I realize this is purely idealistic thinking, but just what are the rules?? Oh, there aren't any.... I see.

This is the third-worldization of America... get used to it. This is by design... someone somewhere, wants a weak America.. that is the only thing I can come up with.... otherwise.. things would not be as they are... hope I made a little sense... but if I didn't.. it wouldn't be the first time.

[wadestock]

4. TRUTH

We are not "growing our way out of debt".
Every tax payer is paying a considerable burden EACH YEAR on this debt, which exceeds any tax break given out by Bush.

7 Trillion and climbing at a rate of close to 1/2 trillion per year.
At the end of another 4 years of Bush....total debt could be 10 Trillion or more. With interest rates climbing up another 2 to 3 per cent over that timespan, we're looking at interest payments on the debt of perhaps 400 Billion or more per year. Can you imagine that? Interest payments actually exceeding our defense budget?

Remember 1997???? This was the turning point in getting a handle on our national debt under Clinton/Gore. I looked up total outlays on EVERY tax dollar was 15% on the national debt....the interest on the debt that year was a total of 244 Billion, an astonishing amount. But after 1997, the effect of Clinton/Gore balanced budget initiatives, upper eschelon tax increases, tax on gas, etc, plus better economy led to successively LOWER interest payments. The behemoth debt was brought under control. During that period, I calculated my family paid over $20,000 towards INTEREST payments on the national debt.

The average person doesn't understand that interest on the debt must be paid every year by EACH AND EVERY TAX PAYER. Assume you pay $10,000 per year in taxes, a 10% interest on the debt payment means YOU AND YOUR FAMILY HAVE JUST WASTED $1,000 FOR NOTHING ON INTEREST PAYMENTS ON THE NATIONAL DEBT. Put this into perspective when you get a $600 tax break from W.

After Clinton/Gore balanced budget initiatives...we reduced the yearly deficit and got to a point where THERE WERE NO ANNUAL INTEREST PAYMENTS ON THE DEBT. Now we're on a road once again going UP in interest payments....back to the 15% or more by the time we get to the 10 Trillion range (possibly 10% this coming year or more, but successively increasing with each year, and more if interest rates continue to go up). Some predictions actually calculate interest payments on the debt could be as high as 25 cents on the dollar after another 4 years of Bush!!!!

THESE INTEREST PAYMENTS IN COMBINATION WITH YEARLY DEFICITS WILL FURTHER STRAIN THE YEARLY BUDGET, COMPROMISE NEEDED PROGRAMS, AND WEAKEN OUR NATIONAL SECURITY.

[kentuck]

5. I think this is an issue that Kerry should point out....

Bush is escaping any scrutiny on the deficit..

[wadestock]

8. In my own personal survey.....

very close to 100% of people I talk to have no clue that they pay interest on the national debt yearly in their IRS payments.

Since of course those now in power carefully monitor such things....they can essentially get away with murder in this regard.

One phrase I use on people more and more...which always gets some attention is simply...."how much did you pay on the national debt last year?....do you know?"

The repuke counter point would be these payments are "absorbed" into your entire tax bill. But this is bullcrap. Had we continued with Gore throughout these years, you can bet we'd have maintained paying down the debt and had no yearly interest payments. Once that burden is controlled, you can then attack such insidious things as health care.
Under Bush's plan....it HAS to be every man for himself. There is really no other way the government can maintain control of itself to make a positive contribution to your well being.

In the end...controlling this debt and yearly interest payments is the ONLY true way to build an effective foundation from which the country can really BRING TAXES DOWN. Ironic isn't it.

[AP]

7. Bush is destroying this country and 48% of Americans have no clue

and are willing to vote for him.