I sounded "sad" in yesterday's post, but really I am pretty sanguine about the election. Change is going to come even if the status quo candidate wins today -- and it's going to happen because we can't escape the debt problem in this country. So, to explore the issue a bit, I put together a table of annual U.S. fiscal deficits and the cumulative changes in total outstanding public federal debt since 1960. I think it brings home the point. Enjoy.
| Year |
Deficit |
Public Debt Fed |
|
|
|
|
| 1960 |
4.8 |
290.5 |
|
|
|
|
| 1961 |
10.5
|
292.7
|
|
|
|
|
| 1962 |
7.2
|
302.9
|
|
|
|
|
| 1963 |
4.8
|
310.3
|
|
|
|
|
| 1964 |
5.9
|
316.1
|
|
|
|
|
| 1965 |
1.4
|
322.3
|
|
|
|
|
| 1966 |
3.7
|
328.5
|
|
|
|
|
| 1967 |
8.6
|
340.5
|
|
|
|
|
| 1968 |
25.2
|
368.7
|
|
|
|
|
| 1969 |
(3.2) |
365.8
|
|
|
|
|
| 1970 |
2.8
|
380.9
|
|
|
|
|
| 1971 |
23.0 |
408.2 |
Bye-bye gold
standard…notice anything about deficits afterwards? |
| 1972 |
23.4
|
435.9
|
| 1973 |
14.9
|
466.3
|
| 1974 |
6.1
|
483.9
|
|
|
|
|
| 1975 |
53.2
|
541.9
|
|
|
|
|
| 1976 |
73.7
|
629.0
|
|
|
|
|
| 1977 |
53.7
|
706.4
|
|
|
|
|
| 1978 |
59.2
|
776.6
|
|
|
|
|
| 1979 |
40.7
|
829.5
|
|
|
|
|
| 1980 |
73.8
|
909.0
|
|
|
|
|
| 1981 |
79.0
|
994.8
|
|
|
|
|
| 1982 |
128.0
|
1,137.3
|
|
|
|
|
| 1983 |
207.8
|
1,371.7
|
|
|
|
|
| 1984 |
185.4
|
1,564.6
|
|
|
|
|
| 1985 |
212.3
|
1,817.4
|
|
|
|
|
| 1986 |
221.2
|
2,120.5
|
|
|
|
|
| 1987 |
149.7
|
2,346.0
|
|
|
|
|
| 1988 |
155.2
|
2,601.1
|
|
|
|
|
| 1989 |
152.6
|
2,867.8
|
|
|
|
|
| 1990 |
221.0
|
3,206.3
|
|
|
|
|
| 1991 |
269.2
|
3,598.2
|
|
|
|
|
| 1992 |
290.3
|
4,001.8
|
|
|
|
|
| 1993 |
255.1
|
4,351.0
|
|
|
|
|
| 1994 |
203.2
|
4,643.3
|
|
|
|
|
| 1995 |
164.0
|
4,920.6
|
|
|
|
|
| 1996 |
107.4
|
5,181.5
|
|
|
|
|
| 1997 |
21.9
|
5,369.2
|
|
|
|
|
| 1998 |
(69.3) |
5,478.2
|
Clinton
"Surpluses", but federal debt grows $400Bn…hmmm |
| 1999 |
(125.6) |
5,605.5
|
| 2000 |
(236.2) |
5,628.7
|
| 2001 |
(128.2) |
5,769.9
|
| 2002 |
157.8
|
6,198.4
|
|
|
|
|
| 2003 |
377.6
|
6,760.0
|
|
|
|
|
| 2004 |
412.7
|
7,354.7
|
|
|
|
|
| 2005 |
318.4
|
7,905.3
|
|
|
|
|
| 2006 |
248.2
|
8,451.4
|
|
|
|
|
| 2007 |
160.7
|
8,950.8
|
|
|
|
|
| 2008 |
458.6
|
9,986.1
|
|
|
|
|
| 2009 |
1,412.7
|
11,875.9
|
|
|
|
|
| 2010 |
1,294.4
|
13,528.8
|
|
|
|
|
| 2011 |
1,299.6
|
14,764.2
|
|
|
|
|
| 2012 |
1,087.0
|
16,050.9
|
|
|
|
|
| 2013 |
679.6
|
16,719.4
|
|
|
|
|
| 2014 |
484.6
|
17,794.5
|
|
|
|
|
| 2015 |
438.4
|
18,120.1
|
Federal Debt
grows $1.4Tn…hmmm |
| 2016 |
587.4
|
19,537.4
|
