"American national balance sheet at the end of 1999"

Amos: Why are you cherry picking data and ignoring the end of 2000?

Here is why:

Joseph Stiglitz, chairman of Bill Clinton's Council of Economic Advisers:

The bursting of the stock-market bubble showed that New Economy rhetoric contained more than a little hype. And the Enron, Arthur Andersen, Merrill Lynch, and Adelphia scandals presented another side of American capitalism. Now the economy is setting new kinds of records: WorldCom's is the largest bankruptcy in history; the fall in the stock market is the largest in decades. As the market has plunged, those who confidently ploughed their savings into stocks have found their retirement incomes in jeopardy.

It would be nice for us veterans of the Clinton Administration if we could simply blame mismanagement by President George W. Bush's economic team for this seemingly sudden turnaround in the economy, which coincided so closely with its taking charge. But although there has been mismanagement, and it has made matters worse, the economy was slipping into recession even before Bush took office, and the corporate scandals that are rocking America began much earlier.

If you cannot grasp those facts, here is a chart that wiil make it so obvious that even you can understand it.

View chart of the national debt

Upon looking at this chart, you will plainly see that during the last year of the Clinton administration, the national debt started to increase at the same rate that it increased during the Bush administration.

To put in plain words, Bush inherited the current rate of rise in the national debt from the Clinton administration.

Clinton did manage to slow it down during his first 6 years but in the 7th year the climb increased and in the 8th year it increased again.

Overall it increased about the same as it did during the Reagan years, about $1 trillion.