From Starve the Beast to Record Debt by Henry Mantel
This past February, the national debt topped $22 trillion for the first time in history, greater than the nation's GDP. (If you want to see how that number breaks down, check out the National Debt Clock .) This comes to about $67,000 per American citizen. The simple explanation for this is that, year after year, the federal government has run a deficit and spent more money on federal programs than it took in from taxes, borrowing money to make up the difference. This debt is a serious problem and threatens the economic future of every American. So, how did it get so massive? Back in 1978, the national debt was around $772 billion, about 34% of the nation's GDP. Conservatives at the time were concerned about getting federal spending under control. The Republican Party's economic gurus, such as Alan Greenspan and Herb Stein, were not comfortable with cutting taxes before reducing spending for fear of increasing the deficit too quickly. The problem with cutting spending w