Debt Numbers

[Mishra]

I found a link on this board that gives you access to the national debt limits of our entire country. So I did some Excel magic and produce the percentage of debt reduced every year since our beginning. Here is how you read it:

1. Look at the percentage, if it is below 100%, that means in the next year they increased the debt. If it is above 100%, that means the next year they reduced the debt.

2. Find out the numbers by going here: treasurydirect.gov/govt/reports/pd/histdebt/histdebt.htm

3. Find what what president increased/decreased the debt by looking here: whitehouse.gov/about/presidents


1791 75,463,476.52 98%
1792 77,227,924.66 96%
1793 80,358,634.04 102%
1794 78,427,404.77 97%
1795 80,747,587.39 96%
1796 83,762,172.07 102%
1797 82,064,479.33 104%
1798 79,228,529.12 101%
1799 78,408,669.77 94%
1800 82,976,294.35 100%
1801 83,038,050.80 103%
1802 80,712,632.25 105%
1803 77,054,686.40 89%
1804 86,427,120.88 105%
1805 82,312,150.50 109%
1806 75,723,270.66 109%
1807 69,218,398.64 106%
1808 65,196,317.97 114%
1809 57,023,192.09 107%
1810 53,173,217.52 111%
1811 48,005,587.76 106%
1812 45,209,737.90 81%
1813 55,962,827.57 69%
1814 81,487,846.24 82%
1815 99,833,660.15 78%
1816 127,334,933.74 103%
1817 123,491,965.16 119%
1818 103,466,633.83 108%
1819 95,529,648.28 105%
1820 91,015,566.15 101%
1821 89,987,427.66 96%
1822 93,546,676.98 103%
1823 90,875,877.28 101%
1824 90,269,777.77 108%
1825 83,788,432.71 103%
1826 81,054,059.99 110%
1827 73,987,357.20 110%
1828 67,475,043.87 115%
1829 58,421,413.67 120%
1830 48,565,406.50 124%
1831 39,123,191.68 161%
1832 24,322,235.18 347%
1833 7,001,698.83 147%
1834 4,760,082.08 14111%
1835 33,733.05 90%
1836 37,513.05 11%
1837 336,957.83 10%
1838 3,308,124.07 32%
1839 10,434,221.14 292%
1840 3,573,343.82 68%
1841 5,250,875.54 39%
1842 13,594,480.73 67%
1843 20,201,226.27 62%
1843 32,742,922.00 140%
1844 23,461,652.50 147%
1845 15,925,303.01 102%
1846 15,550,202.97 40%
1847 38,826,534.77 83%
1848 47,044,862.23 75%
1849 63,061,858.69 99%
1850 63,452,773.55 93%
1851 68,304,796.02 103%
1852 66,199,341.71 111%
1853 59,803,117.70 142%
1854 42,242,222.42 119%
1855 35,586,956.56 111%
1856 31,972,537.90 111%
1857 28,699,831.85 64%
1858 44,911,881.03 77%
1859 58,496,837.88 90%
1860 64,842,287.88 72%
1861 90,580,873.72 17%
1862 524,176,412.13 47%
1863 1,119,772,138.63 62%
1864 1,815,784,370.57 68%
1865 2,680,647,869.74 97%
1866 2,773,236,173.69 104%
1867 2,678,126,103.87 103%
1868 2,611,687,851.19 101%
1869 2,588,452,213.94 104%
1870 2,480,672,427.81 105%
1871 2,353,211,332.32 104%
1872 2,253,251,328.78 101%
1873 2,234,482,993.20 99%
1874 2,251,690,468.43 101%
1875 2,232,284,531.95 102%
1876 2,180,395,067.15 99%
1877 2,205,301,392.10 98%
1878 2,256,205,892.53 96%
1879 2,349,567,482.04 111%
1880 2,120,415,370.63 102%
1881 2,069,013,569.58 108%
1882 1,918,312,994.03 102%
1883 1,884,171,728.07 103%
1884 1,830,528,923.57 98%
1885 1,863,964,873.14 105%
1886 1,775,063,013.78 107%
1887 1,657,602,592.63 98%
1888 1,692,858,984.58 105%
1889 1,619,052,922.23 104%
1890 1,552,140,204.73 100%
1891 1,545,996,591.61 97%
1892 1,588,464,144.63 103%
1893 1,545,985,686.13 95%
1894 1,632,253,636.68 97%
1895 1,676,120,983.25 95%
1896 1,769,840,323.40 97%
1897 1,817,672,665.90 101%
1898 1,796,531,995.90 90%
1899 1,991,927,306.92 93%
1901 2,143,326,933.89 99%
1902 2,158,610,445.89 98%
1903 2,202,464,781.89 97%
1904 2,264,003,585.14 106%
1905 2,136,961,091.67 94%
1905 2,274,615,063.84 97%
1906 2,337,161,839.04 95%
1907 2,457,188,061.54 94%
1908 2,626,806,271.54 100%
1909 2,639,546,241.04 100%
1910 2,652,665,838.04 96%
1911 2,765,600,606.69 96%
1912 2,868,373,874.16 98%
1913 2,916,204,913.66 100%
1914 2,912,499,269.16 95%
1915 3,058,136,873.16 85%
1916 3,609,244,262.16 63%
1917 5,717,770,279.52 39%
1918 14,592,161,414.00 53%
1919 27,390,970,113.12 106%
1920 25,952,456,406.16 108%
1921 23,977,450,552.54 104%
1922 22,963,381,708.31 103%
1923 22,349,707,365.36 105%
1924 21,250,812,989.49 104%
1925 20,516,193,887.90 104%
1926 19,643,216,315.19 106%
1927 18,511,906,931.85 105%
1928 17,604,293,201.43 104%
1929 16,931,088,484.10 105%
1930 16,185,309,831.43 96%
1931 16,801,281,491.71 86%
1932 19,487,002,444.13 86%
1933 22,538,672,560.15 83%
1934 27,053,141,414.48 94%
1935 28,700,892,624.53 85%
1936 33,778,543,493.73 93%
1937 36,424,613,732.29 98%
1938 37,164,740,315.45 92%
1939 40,439,532,411.11 94%
1940 42,967,531,037.68 88%
1941 48,961,443,535.71 68%
1942 72,422,445,116.22 53%
1943 136,696,090,329.90 68%
1944 201,003,387,221.13 75%
1944 269,422,099,173.26 104%
1945 258,682,187,409.93 100%
1947 258,286,383,108.67 102%
1948 252,292,246,512.99 100%
1949 252,770,359,860.33 98%
1950 257,357,352,351.04 101%
1951 255,221,976,814.93 99%
1952 259,105,178,785.43 97%
1953 266,071,061,638.57 98%
1954 271,259,599,108.46 99%
1955 274,374,222,802.62 101%
1956 272,750,813,649.32 101%
1957 270,527,171,896.43 98%
1958 276,343,217,745.81 97%
1959 284,705,907,078.22 99%
1960 286,330,760,848.37 99%
1961 288,970,938,610.05 97%
1962 298,200,822,720.87 97%
1963 305,859,632,996.41 98%
1964 311,712,899,257.30 98%
1965 317,273,898,983.64 99%
1966 319,907,087,795.48 98%
1967 326,220,937,794.54 94%
1968 347,578,406,425.88 98%
1969 353,720,253,841.41 95%
1970 370,918,706,949.93 93%
1971 398,129,744,455.54 93%
1972 427,260,460,940.50 93%
1973 458,141,605,312.09 96%
1974 475,059,815,731.55 89%
1975 533,189,000,000.00 86%
1976 620,433,000,000.00 89%
1977 698,840,000,000.00 91%
1978 771,544,000,000.00 93%
1979 826,519,000,000.00 91%
1980 907,701,000,000.00 91%
1981 997,855,000,000.00 87%
1982 1,142,034,000,000.00 83%
1983 1,377,210,000,000.00 88%
1984 1,572,266,000,000.00 86%
1985 1,823,103,000,000.00 86%
1986 2,125,302,616,658.42 90%
1987 2,350,276,890,953.00 90%
1988 2,602,337,712,041.16 91%
1989 2,857,430,960,187.32 88%
1990 3,233,313,451,777.25 88%
1991 3,665,303,351,697.03 90%
1992 4,064,620,655,521.66 92%
1993 4,411,488,883,139.38 94%
1994 4,692,749,910,013.32 94%
1995 4,973,982,900,709.39 95%
1996 5,224,810,939,135.73 97%
1997 5,413,146,011,397.34 98%
1998 5,526,193,008,897.62 98%
1999 5,656,270,901,615.43 100%
2000 5,674,178,209,886.86 98%
2001 5,807,463,412,200.06 93%
2002 6,228,235,965,597.16 92%
2003 6,783,231,062,743.62 92%
2004 7,379,052,696,330.32 93%
2005 7,932,709,661,723.50 93%
2006 8,506,973,899,215.23 94%
2007 9,007,653,372,262.48 90%
2008 10,024,724,896,912.40 84%
2009 11,909,829,003,511.70 88%
2010 13,561,623,030,891.70


I did a bit more math and found out this information:

We have increased our debt 133 times
We have decreased out debt 78 times

In percentage terms we have increased the debt by:

1831%

And decreased the debt by (excluding Andrew Jackson's 14k percent):

1094%


From the data, it's been a long time since we have actually tried to reduce the debt by any significant amount/percentage.

I'll be posting this data on my blog listed below with the original spreadsheet if you want to play with the numbers.

 

[Mishra]

It's really cool data. You can tell that Bush junior wasn't the worst, and other presidents have done quite a bit worse. Among many other conclusions. Like 74-76 was Gerald Ford years, 82-86 was Reagan years, and 88-92 was Bush senior years which was worse than Bush junior.

 

[Mishra]

Also simply removing these years:

1831 39,123,191.68 161%
1832 24,322,235.18 347%
1833 7,001,698.83 147%

Reduces the decreased percentage to 439%. Wow.

 

[Mishra]

After doing these numbers, I would like to thank Woodrow Wilson,Warren G Harding, and the congress at the time, as they were the last ones to make some consistent stab at reducing debt.

 

[Mishra]

I post something that shows blame for both parties, and suddenly every one is quiet. "What, I can't blame one side for everything? Need to find another thread to continue trolling..."

 

[waltky]

Rand Paul says...

Republicans, Democrats 'Joining Hands Together to Blow a Hole in the Debt'
March 23, 2018 | Some conservative Republicans, including Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), voted against the massive $1.3 trillion spending bill produced by Republicans and cheered by Democrats.

But enough Senate Democrats and Republicans joined together to pass the bill early Friday morning. "It's Republicans and Democrats joining hands together to blow a hole in the debt," Sen. Paul told Fox News's Tucker Carlson on Thursday. "This could have been written by President Obama and liberal Democrats," Paul said. "When I ran in 2010, when we had that tea party tidal wave, we were opposed to President Obama's spending, and we were opposed to President Obama's trillion-dollar deficit. This bill will give us a trillion-dollar deficit this year."

Paul said passage of the $1.3 trillion bill explains why people are "so upset" with politics: "Because when the Republicans are out of power, they are the conservative party. But then when they get in the majority, there is no conservative party. Democrats don't care about spending any of the time. Republicans seem to care about it when they are criticizing Democrats, but now that Republicans are in charge Republicans are like Katie bar the door."

Paul said Democrats and Republicans have forged what he called an "unholy alliance." "Republicans are not fiscally conservative on the military. They want unlimited spending on the military. Democrats say, we'll give it to you. We're not really opposed to it. We'll give you the military spending if you give us the domestic spending. So really, the unholy alliance, the unholy compromise has been going on for decades is, we really have actually too much compromise in Washington. They're always compromising to raise spending and increase the debt."

Paul said Republicans should stand for balanced budgets, limited spending, less debt -- and reading the bills: "You know, I'm kind of old school," Paul said. "I think you ought to read the bills before you vote on them. This was a 2,200-page bill we got it last night at midnight. I have been working all day diligently through the bill and I'm up to page 600. But you know, I've still got quite a bit of ways to go to read the bill."

None of the lawmakers who voted for the bill or against it had time to read all the way through it. In the end, the bill that funds the government through Sept. 30 passed 65-32 in the Senate (23 Republicans, 8 Democrats and 1 independent voted no.) The bill passed 256-167 in the House. President Trump is expected to sign it today.

Rand Paul: Republicans, Democrats 'Joining Hands Together to Blow a Hole in the Debt'

See also:

Trump Defends $1.3T Spending Plan, Points to Military Gains
25 Mar 2018 -- President Donald Trump on Sunday defended his decision to sign a $1.3 trillion federal spending bill despite his misgivings, pointing to billions in new funding for the military and national security.

Trump said on Twitter from his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida that because of the military funding, "many jobs are created and our Military is again rich." He said building his signature border wall "is all about National Defense." Since grudgingly signing the bill on Friday after threatening a veto, Trump has faced fierce criticism from conservatives who have accused him of caving in to congressional Democrats. The president said Friday at the White House he was "very disappointed" in the package, in part because it didn't fully pay for his border wall. But Trump said he had "no choice" because the nation needed to fund the military.

Trump sought $25 billion for his border wall, but the plan included much less -- $1.6 billion for building new sections of wall and replacing older sections. Trump tweeted Sunday that much can be done with the money and it's "just a down payment." He said the "rest of the money will come" and again reiterated that Democrats "abandoned" young immigrants seeking protections. Trump on Friday noted that the bill failed to extend protection from deportation to some 700,000 "Dreamer" immigrants due to lose coverage under a program the president himself has tried to eliminate.

Trump's veto threat had put him at odds with top members of his administration and Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan, who urged him to sign the bill. But prominent conservatives have criticized the massive spending plan, warning that it could add to the nation's debt. The president on Friday warned Congress that he would "never sign another bill like this again." He called for the Senate to overhaul its rules to allow for simple-majority votes on all bills, and urged Congress to provide him with a line-item veto power to kill specific spending items he disagrees with. The Supreme Court ruled in 1998 that a line-item veto was unconstitutional.

Trump Defends $1.3T Spending Plan, Points to Military Gains