The debt under Obama started at 10 trillion and grew to over 19 trillion when he left office, a near double. I would look somewhere else other than investopedia.
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Huh?
There were 7 presidents listed, and in recent times, Biden was 7th in regards to âbiggest explosion.â
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The debt in absolute dollars grew the largest under Biden than under any prior administration. In addition, they grew govt spending by 22% over the prior leadership.
between Trump and Biden, they have exploded the debt and subsequent interest payments.
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Absolute dollars donât work well in this type of comparison. Percentages standardize figures to allow easy comparison across different scales.
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Itâs important to look at it in both ways. Since the explosion in absolute dollars resulted in the single largest percentage increase in annual inflation in more than 40 years. More importantly, the absolute dollar increase provides a better picture into the increased cost to service the expanded debt.
What is even more shocking is many on the left wanted the Biden administration to go even bigger in terms of climate spending. Initially, they wanted close to $31 trillion in future commitments.
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What is interesting is the amount of debt increased in Obamaâs 2 term is same as Trumpâs first term!!! Obama has to endure GFC related higher debt and lower revenueâŚ
Itâs so apparent the ideological capture when your takeaway of my criticism of the Biden administration is somehow a defense of Trumpâs fiscal policy. He is in many ways as fiscally irresponsible, in addition to his lack of a moral barometer. But, I knew that going in and why I never voted for him. Trump passed all the spending with a Democratic controlled congress. They love spending. Obama only enjoyed total control for about a 4 month period, which he squandered on passing the ACA. The GFC involved a combination of solutions, including more loans and private and public cooperation rather than what effectively amounted to a give away under COVID.
Measuring accrued debt during a presidential term is more complicated than just looking at the bottom line. Presidentsâ budgets are impacted by tax cuts and discretionary spending that may have been legislated prior to them coming into office. Also, as debt increases under prior administrations, the succeeding administrations have to allocate more and more money to pay interest on that debt.
More comprehensive information is needed before we flippantly argue for or against the fiscal responsibility of any administration.
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In my work experience, looking at numbers by themselves is not helpful. You need something to compare them to.
Even financial statements, with just numbers, needs something to compare them to (budget, prior period, forecast, other similar companies, etc.).
Just looking at the raw debt numbers doesnât tell the full story.
If you donât like percents, perhaps you could look at debt-to-GDP.
Interestingly, if you look at debt-to-GDP Reagan through Biden, the ratio rose under every president, except Clinton. The 2 biggest jumps incurred under Obama and Trump (first term). The biggest jumps appear to be driven mostly by a response to a crisis (financial and Covid) rather than ordinary policy.
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I never said it did. I think @eldemonio comment is probably most accurate. Itâs difficult to look solely at what occurs in terms of the change in debt and deficits and tax revenue within a Presidents tenure, as a full picture. Having said that, I think the full measure of history will show a snowballing of spending over many administrations that created long term financial consequences. Much of it we will likely figure out did little of real value.
I went looking and didnât find that. Shucks.
