Today, Andrew M. Sullivan said something when being
interviewed by Nora O'Donnell (not my favorite person in terms of accuracy of reporting) that just made my brain do sommersaults. He said in an interview with her:
"One thing I will also point out, the conservative(s) have always favored fiscal responsibility. Bush inherited a debt of $20 trillion. In five years, he's increased it to $43 trillion."
What? Where is he getting these numbers? Certainly not from the
U.S. National Debt Clock: The current number of the National Debt is around $8.5 trillion as of today.
And it's not coming from the surplus that Clinton left us with either, to the tune of $230 billion.
I've sent Andrew a letter in which I include both the above links for him:
Dear Andrew,
Where are you getting your numbers? I appreciated what you said to Nora O'Donnell today about the lack of Conservative moral stance and how much they have destroyed the Republican party with their hypocrisy but you threw out some numbers today which were absolutely and amazingly ridiculous.
You said, after Clinton left that Bush inherited a $20 trillion deficit and that now we have a $42 trillion deficit. Where on earth are you getting those numbers? They are no where NEAR reality.
Yes, we have a debt, mainly of Bush's making, but the debt is about $8.5 trillion... Take a look here: http://www.brillig.com/...
In terms of a deficit, on September 27th, 2000, the US had a $230 billion surplus, meaning that this is what we hadn't paid out on our loans that was in our treasury, and there was more after Clinton left. Of course, Bush sucked it dry. A year in Iraq did that. Currently: The War in Iraq Costs
$332,968,322,420. Not quite a trillion YET.
But here's the story: http://archives.cnn.com/...
You do know there's a difference between the debt and the deficit, right?
If not, here's the difference:
"1.2) What is the difference between the debt and the deficit?
The deficit is the fiscal year difference between what the United States Government (Government) takes in from taxes and other revenues, called receipts, and the amount of money the Government spends, called outlays. The items included in the deficit are considered either on-budget or off-budget. (The off-budget items are typically comprised of the two Social Security trust funds, old-age and survivors insurance and disability insurance, and the Postal-Service fund.) Generally, on-budget outlays tend to exceed on-budget receipts, while off-budget receipts tend to exceed off-budget outlays.
You can think of the total debt as accumulated deficits plus accumulated off-budget surpluses. The on-budget deficits require the Treasury to borrow money to raise cash needed to keep the Government operating. We borrow the money by selling Treasury securities like T-bills, notes, bonds and savings bonds to the public. Additionally, the Government Trust Funds are required by law to invest accumulated surpluses in Treasury securities. The Treasury securities issued to the public and to the Government Trust Funds (Intragovernmental Holdings) then become part of the total debt. For information concerning the deficit, visit the Financial Management Service website to view the Monthly Treasury Statement of Receipts and Outlays of the United States Government (MTS)."
There's more on the website, but there's no way we owe $42 trillion. You just pulled numbers out of your butt, Andrew, and that's clearly obvious. Please don't make up shit, we are in big enough trouble as it is. That was completely irresponsible of you. Back up what you say, or don't say it. We WILL catch it. And really Andrew, there was no reason to make crap up, we are bad enough off as it is.
Other than that, I accept your apology for the Republican Party being a bunch of hypocrites. When they can tell the truth about the money, it will even be better. Maybe you should start that truthtelling.
:)
Sleep well!
Joy
I just have NO idea where he got his numbers from, they were completely out of whack.