“America is laden with massive debt and continues to pile up at incomprehensible levels, which is a major cause of our current economic crisis and a formidable barrier to any recovery. When our national debt is expressed as a percentage of gross domestic product, it shows our ability to pay off our debt.
In 1981, America’s debt-to-GDP ratio was just over 33 percent. Now it is 69 percent and rising. In earlier times, America taxed itself to pay for government services it received. “Tax and spend” was the mantra. Gradually the mantra changed to “borrow and spend.”
The State Journal-Register published comments from Richard Judd, the National City Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of Illinois Springfield in a May 5, 2010, edition.
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