So here is the table - by President, previous experience, $ added to National Debt, % of debt added during term.
While these aren't perfect numbers (there are many ways to look at this), they do show some interesting trends. See for yourself:
Presidents and Debt
President Previous Experience $ Added to Debt % Added to Debt
44. Barack Obama (D) Senator $9.4 Trillion 88.2%
43. George W. Bush (R) Governor $4.9 trillion 85.5%
42. Bill Clinton (D) Governor $1.54 trillion 36.7%
41. George H. Bush (R) Representative/VP $1.49 trillion 55.2% (1 term)
40. Ronald Reagan (R) Governor $1.77 trillion 190%
39. Jimmy Carter (D) Governor $281 billion 43% (1 term)
38. Gerald Ford (R) Representative/VP $172 billion 37% (<1 term)
37. Richard Nixon (R) Senator $119 billion 33% (>1 term)
36. Lyndon B Johnson (D) Senator $54 billlion 17.5% (>1 term)
35. John F. Kennedy (D) Senator $19 billion 6.6% (<1 term)
pres Start in bils finish added perc
obama 10,626 20,000 9,374 88.2
bush 5,730 10.630 4,900 85.5
clinton 4,190 5,730 1,540 36.7
bush 2,700 4,190 1,490 55.2
Reagan 934 2,700 1.77 190
carter 653 934 281 43
Ford 482 654 172 37
Nixon 362 481 119 33
Johnson 308 362 54 17.5
Kennedy 289 308 19 6.6
Average percentage per party:
Democrats in office 28 years - 192% added- 6.85% per year or 27.42% per term
Republicans in office 28 years - 400% added - 14.3% per year or 57.24% per term
So unfortunately for me, the Republican Presidents added more than double the percentage of National Debt per term as the Democratic Presidents.
As you can see we've always elected either a Governor, a Senator or a Representative to the office of the President. how's that working for us? Maybe we should try a business man. Even a flawed rough around the edges business man. #justsayin
Good luck every one this fall.
Rob Barrett, Jr.
