Five Misconceptions About the National Debt

[xoxgodofgodsgodxx]

Wait, these are mostly the same points made on the Left by Robert Reich

People call this propaganda based on the source, not by the content.

[CaptainCocaine]

So how are these considered misconceptions if you support every one of these claims in detail? Your logic lacks reason.

[seahorse05]

The issue that "conservatives," Republicans and republican Tea people think is the problem with Obama and Democrats. And that is the National Debt. The facts: Reagan 1.9 Trillion; HW Bush: 1.5; Clinton: 1.4; GW Bush 6.4; Obama: 2.4.

Last 30 years of National Debt:

Democratic Party Presidents: 3.8 Trillion Dollars

Republican Party Presidents: 9.8 Trillion Dollars

Nothing "conservative" about ^^ the nearly 10 Trillion GOP created debt.

The large Debt is a Republican/conservative created problem.

[white25rs]

@seahorse05 wrong wrong wrong, keep getting your facts from .gov sites jackass

[seahorse05]

@white25rs National debt quadrupled under Reagan+Bush 1 and doubled under Bush 2 ...that is reality and I know many so-called "conservatives," Republicans, Tea kool-aiders, and Fox infotainment people don't like embracing reality and facts. lol ....yup facts do make you mad because facts don't line up with the mendacity and kool-aid created and fed to you by right wing corporate/wealth machine. Try to break your addiction to denial of facts.

[dconklin58]

The numbers at :34 are way off. After WW2 our debt to GDP ratio was over 120% and right now we're around 80%.

[thenvdude]

THIS ASSHOLE GOT POWNED DEBT IS 60% OF THE ECONOMY NOW ASSHOLES ,JUST SHOWS GOVT IS FUCKING PEOPLE AND THE WORLD

[jizzhonson]

his voice cracks every 5 seconds..

[crocfme]

The US needs to spend a lot less on the military and foriegn aid of course, but cutting off unemployment, medicaid etc. would be almost the same as euthenising the majority of the chronically ill, disabled, elderly and those who simply can't find a job. And that in turn would necessitate drastically increased spending on law enforcement as those being euthanised would very likely defend themselves vigourosly and violently..

[dgumb]

@crocfme actually foreign aid is miniscule compared to military spending and other programs. (it's something like 0.2% of total government spending)

[thegoodjohn]

phenomenal that just a year later and the Heritage Foundation has completely changed it's views on America's Debt problem. No idea at all why.

[drippyhippie]

Like you, Ive heard many times the entitlements are sucking the economy dry. I know its changed. People who were on welfare are now have to work a job, atleast so many hours to receive any benefits. I know entitlements in schools have been closed. I know in Wis. they are cutting benefits for teachers and other public servents to erase state debt. And i would have thought NASA would be a good percentage but its not. The data i found, true or not, shows military is sucking us dry.

[drippyhippie]

Oh I understand the rationale. If our duel family income is good and we only go out to eat every other friday to a nice place, thats fine, even if our family has too much credit card debt. youre saying do look at current debt, devaluing our dollor, just look at our GDP. Oh let''s pick on people services as the culprit and blame them instead when the budge of military is gigantic in comparison. Couldnt disagree with the above vid more. Only agree with 5% of the statements.

[intrepidorator]

@drippyhippie Actually the biggest cost to our government is entitlements, followed by military. Your desire to point out the high cost of defense spending while ignoring the entitlement spending proves your left leaning ideology. Now the solution. We simply cut spending across the board by 40%. This is completely fair and equitable. 40% less for medicare, 40% less for military, 40% less for social security. 40% less for subsidies, 40% less in foreign aide. etc...

[kapil1ly4u]

what did he say 3 days later when the lehmann collapsed????? looks idiot, and proving the same.

[dmeiske1]

This guy is a complete retard. He is from the Heritage Foundation that Rush Limbaugh advertises on his show. Idiot!!!!

[kingpin124]

Video from the biggest TOOL on this planet.

[super6plx]

anybody who did economics in university, hell even high school, would know that this is all perfectly true

debt is not an issue, debt is used to stimulate the economy to AVOID problems, not to create problems.

[mxdave91]

The federal reserve (which is owned and operated by private bankers) prints money as the govt. needs it. They lend them the amount they need plus charge them interest. Well if the govt. borrows 1 billion dollars they have to pay back 1 billion plus interest. Well this could never happen because the money required to pay back the interest on the 1 billion was never printed and thats how the national debt rises 1.6 billion a year. Watch the 5 part video " National debt. to whom do we owe it?"

[Universa1ove]

heritage is so full of crap

[MrShaiker]

• a lot of people dont get it. our high debt and taxes are not a result of social spending so much as a result of fractional reserve banking. for starters, watch money as debt. then research how this situation came to be. our leaders are corrupt puppets that work for the private banks. your right to vote is just an illusion of choice. dont be stupid. educate yourselves.

END THE FEDERAL RESERVE U AMERICANS ARE SHEEP FOLLOWING A HEARD WHILE THE ELITE COLLECT YOUR INCOME TAX

[SefirothPH]

@MrShaiker I'm not even going to get into an argument with you about whether you're right or wrong. However, you have told us to educate ourselves. That is more hypocritical than anything I've ever heard a politician say. You can barely choose the correct words in a sentence. "HEARD" instead of, "Herd". Stop pretending like you know better, and everyone else is clueless. Considering you said, "U AMERICANS" I'll assume you aren't from America. News flash fucktard, your government lies to you too.

[intrepidorator]

@MrShaiker So you don't think that the amount of money that we owe is caused by the amount of money that we spend? really??? really??

[erobwen]

You talk about reducing the debt burden, just as a slave owner would encourage his slaves to work faster in order to get more time to take a rest. What a nice act of concern. How about if we kick the slave owner in the butt, and ELIMINATE the debt burden altogether? Remember 1789. The time for the banksters to face justice will come.

[erobwen]

All money is created out of debt. This person claims that economic growth reduces the debt burden, but how can money spinning faster inside the economy in any way decrease the burden of debt towards the bank system? Only if new loans are taken, it eases the debt burden of previous loans due to inflation, but that is only at the cost of getting even more into debt!

[TheNecropolis20]

acording the the national debt clock we are now just below 14 trillion dollars. currently at 13,932,400,000,000 in only a month or a few months i would not be surprised to see a national debt of 14 trillion or a few dollars over that. however some of these misconceptions this man has mentioned were true and others were false. as it turns out economic growth does make the debt seem less. and also tax cuts are nessesary is false. we could certainly aford to cancel the tax cuts and up the taxbase.

[gtq838]

@TheNecropolis20 easy to say when you aren't paying 50% income tax

[bla34112]

the heiratage foundation... oohh boy

[fabulous4137]

THE NATIONAL DEBT IS OVER 12 TRILLION DOLLARS AND IN 2008 THE NATIONAL DEBT WAS JUST SHY OF 10 TRILLION DOLLAR.

STEP 5 IS A JOKE AND JUST SAYS WELL IF OUR ECONOMY GROWS THEN WE CAN JUST KEEP ADDING MORE DEBT. YOU JUST WANT TO CONTINUE TO SPEND LIKE DRUNKEN SAILORS. HAVE YOU EVER READ OVER ANY OF THOMAS JEFFERSON'S THOUGHTS ON PUBLIC DEBT??!?! THIS FOUNDATION HAS JUST DISGRACED THIS NATION

[Castaril]

Economic growth can't continue forever, there are a limited amount of resources on this planet. When peak oil hits its going to be an economic catastrophe.

[kellann55]

just look at the guys face...you know he doesnt mean what he's saying.

[LITLEJJ08]

this dudes voice cracked like a 100 times

[sdfkjllshadflhadfshl]

WOW, 5.4 Trillion only 2 years ago, now were past 13Trillion. Good job Dems!

[superman066]

@sdfkjllshadflhadfshl Yes, that is the result of the massive economic catastrophy which the previous Republican government left as a legacy, lets not forget that. Also remember that much of the national debt the Democrats inherited, came from gigantic borrowing to pay for unfunded tax cuts and expensive open ended foreign crusades, neither of which did the US any good. They also inherited much of the bailout costs, which the Bush admin instituted. Short memories some (a lot of?) people. 

[fabulous4137]

@sdfkjllshadflhadfshl actually we were at 9-10 trillion dollars of national debt obama got elected. It is just this heritage foundation is screwing with the numbers goto the office of management and budget website for real numbers

[MrSupernova111]

@sdfkjllshadflhadfshl

Most of that debt was inherited from your boy Bush. 10 trillion at the end of 2008. Also, what do you expect with the worthless economy that was handed to the new president? Just stating the facts here.

[jcamargo2005]

How silly is that, capitalism without capital, financed by three or four european states, plus a handfull of emirates and semi-authoritarian states. This Keynes legacy is going to prove more ruinous to the western economic development than the meddling of the catholic chuch on financial matter some centuries ago.

[jcamargo2005]

The american economy will have to reinvent itself to allow the public finances to get out of this. That could be possible after the war, but it does not seem likely now.

Most importantly, having had its debt financed by foreign nations puts the US and specially american government in a situation where they will not be the ones calling the shots anymore. Capital accumulation rules and always will. America and parts of Europe self-imploded thanks to bad Keynesian economics.

[myHome109]

Learn to read, the information presented are from the government and are audited numbers. GAO gov (General Accounting Office Presentation Comptroller General), CBO gov (Congressional Budget Office), OCC Treas Gov (Office Comptroller of Currency USA Treasury), and CIA Factbook. The propaganda is by the Obama and Democratic Dead-beats! Socialization of Union Debt by Dead-beats!

[investortownhall]

What AXES of Evil had proven itself to be the greatest threat to America...Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy and Imperial Japan in the 40's OR todays obscure little nations of N. Korea, Iraq and Iran? And we now own Iraq, the money pit. We spend SIX TIMES MORE than the second-largest military spender, China. We spent TEN TIMES MORE than Russia. It's time the US starts focusing more on its Economic Might instead of its Military Might.

[adamdm87]

1. Yeah, and total debt is what, 14 trillion now?

2. WWII producer economy, money lending; now? comsumer economy, borrowing 3 billion a day to stay afloat

3. .... okay

4. Thanks for noticing, people have been talking about this: passing debts onto new generations isn't gonna work out too well

5.. What good is "economic growth" if it's just in the form of inflated bubbles financed with cheap credit and/or involves taking on more debt. It's gotta be "growth" that works long-term.

[AtlasShruggery]

"I don't worry about the deficit" - Ronald Reagan

"Reagan taught us deficits don't matter" - Dick Cheney

[PistolPackingPatriot]

blah blah blah complex-sounding deliberate obfuscation blah blah blah defecit blah blah

END THE FED!

FIGHT THE NWO!

ABOLISH THE IRS!

HANG THE TRAITORS!

There, that should clear up some common misconceptions. Get it?

[CaptainFluffy6644]

and that was what the nazis said

[RIPPED7399]

you stupid left wing ass clown...... 38 % of our GDP .. our gd gdp is 70% consumption.... wake up people

[VerseInfinitum]

Although the national debt is more significant than the annual deficits, however, the national debt continues to surge ever since the national debt clock was established. I remember H. Ross Perot emphasizing about our outrageous national debt of 1 trillion dollars. Now we're approaching 9 trillion dollars in national debt. Although the Federal Reserve has been resilient to maintaining low interest levels, however debt is the greatest burden for any effort to stimulate economic growth.

[MrRiceowlex]

The misconception is believing the FED is a government agency and that the income taxes you pay provide for services. END THE FED, AUDIT THE FED. Allow for competing currencies, do whatever it takes to eliminate the parasitic moneychanger trash from sucking the life out of you.

[MrRiceowlex]

Drones well said. If you want to economize do it in a free market. Not as a percentage of peonage, this is what the national debt concerns is it not. Call the income tax what it is national servitude. Are some of you that brainwashed ?

What debt and to whom. Are you referring to the interest that is paid using your unlawful income tax to pay the interest to the banks for the money that they print ? TIME FOR A FED AUDIT FOLKS. These people have been stealing for nearly 100 years.

[g00se99]

Go ahead and keep believing this garbage at your own peril. Central Banks are going to cause the greatest depression. The only question is when will the run happen towards hyper inflation.

[zenmachinefilms]

This must have been done with "fuzzy math". Or made back in about 1987, as the national debt hasn't been $5 trillion since then. How on earth could anyone think paying 8% of your money to interest alone is acceptable? Or that we somehow have enough money to afford this.

Ask yourself, do you think it's okay to pay out 8% of your money to interest alone?

If you really want to know about the debt listen to David Walker, former Comptroller General of the US.

[Cactuspancake]

um... this video says the debt is $5.4 trillion... but I think that the debt everyone else is talking about is the $13 trillion dollar one... which according to the video... is bad. lol

[senses2000]

The Heritage Foundation is the enemy! Don't trust them. They want to keep us in debt.

[booger546]

I'm sorry folks, we have been living in an illusion of freedom our entire lives. Just like in the Matrix we are nothing but slaves. And who are our master's you ask ? Why our good friends at the Federal Reserve. Our economy REQUIRES perpetual Increasing debt to function. The debt can NEVER be paid off and we the taxpayers must pay the interest on it. This is why we are all slaves to this system. Have a nice day : )

[booger546]

Why do we need to be in debt ? Isn't this the real question we should be asking ? The simple answer is we don't. But as long as we have a Federal Reserve we will never get out of debt. End of story.

[Omega3chimp]

You economy isn't going to get fixed anytime soon take over Mexico and kill all the Indians again.

[dub2]

ha that was a year ago!! Now we have had zero nat'l growth. HUH. funny how that worked out.

[JimTaryon]

That isnt what the word misconception means.

[kaziqbal]

This guy is right on the money, he won't be too effective on drones who refuse to look at the numbers though.

[Albyiscool]

is that guy 12

[TheBase1]

LOL What a joke.

The math they are doing here would have you believe we have less debt even if we are constantly borrowing more.

Lets say you have an interest only mortgage and are making $50,000/year. Now if you get a raise to $70,000 and buy a $40,000 car on a loan, do you have less debt or more debt?

Well of course you have more. You might pay back the car, but never the house.

Making more money doesn't reduce debt, paying back debt reduces debt.

[TerryRay02]

I usually agree with Heritage but this is BS. Economic growth only reduces the debt burden if you're financially responsible. If your spending is out of control, economic growth is just an excuse to spend more $

[chillinburger]

complete BS

[strolchi10]

What makes me mad about this is they keep bragging about the symptoms jet never touch the real issue witch is our dept money system as most of the dept is interest witch was not created in first place no one is ever going to be able to pay this ever growing dept back thats why they Owen us! All what we create is theirs they by it up wit nothing but paper + interest attached to it its legalised theft! Solution End the Fed issuing power back to congress as constitution says!

[jamezbond78]

GDP/debt ratio is misleading. In 1944 the GDP did not include services, only production. Nowadays you can include services, so comparing GDP from 1944 to 2009 is not apples to apples. Wake up people! The govt. is lying to you and distorting figures and you're buying it hook, like and sinker.

[belliebum12]

Watch this motherfucker's eyes! He's reading from a teleprompter! If this guy knew what he was talking about, he wouldn't need a teleprompter. He's just a sheep being guided by his sheperd.

[drzhava73]

I love how these MF'ers say we're going to grow our way out of the problem! We're at the point where growth only means spending more and more every day, now how the fuck am I going to do that if my company freezes wages, ships my job oveseas and starts making me work harder for less 'cause that's whats been going on for a while now! Oh yeah, forgot...just get another mutha fuckin credit card. Pure horse shit this video is.

[zappyhod]

Look up who founded the heritage foundation...lol...These fuckers are about as trust worthy as the C.I.A.

[Lexus2121]

'Economic growth reduces the debt burden.'

Assuming that the economy just grows and grows. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.

[michahsynn]

propaganda....consider the source a republican-corporate shill: Heritage Foundation.Always trying to

mitigate the scope and depth of this economic meltdown by renaming and rearranging the numbers.

[jeremyemilio]

$5.4 trillion, eh? Well there goes that argument.

[ostinlt]

what BS. Sounds like Pete Stark logic. Remember we're all Kenysians now.

[rodolphesimon]

This is the Rush Limbaugh arguement, "everything's ok, spend ourselves into oblivion to fight boogiemen in caves". Sounds like a bunch preppy boy neo-con pap.

[whoo689]

Is this video from 2002 or 2003? 5.4 Trillion?? o.O

[Rachman1337]

Rock that Reagan baby!

[CrackerXZ]

Haha, nice propaganda.

[Rachman1337]

How is this propeganda? Yeah it's making conservative arguments but it's not propeganda. Obama, on the other hand, is a propeganda PR machine. See, in my opinion. It's all about opinion. Seriously, though, explain how this is propeganda.

[rogerandgunner]

It is propoganda because the person in the video clearly does not understand fractional reserve banking and the role of the FED. He is lying. do some research on here just type in Federal Reserve and start watching.

[MrSupernova111]

@rogerandgunner

fractional reserve banking = perpetual slavery.

We can never pay off the debt. That's why this son of a bitch says debt doesn't matter and we can grow our way out of it.

[QuartuvLarry]

Economic growth is achieved through industrial output. Our auto industry is taxed and regulated all to hell by the government, not to mention racketeered up the ass by unions.

[chasna2]

This person doesn't have the slightest idea of what he's talking about. For example, The projected outflows on transfer payments are a ex ante measure based purely on subjective expectations. The national debt is an ex post reality, it really exists. And, anything taken as a percentage of GDP is going to look small as a percentage. Why not take debt as a percentage of national saving? See how that looks.

[numbnuts234567]

This shows the national debt to be 5.4 trillion. That is a little outdated. The national debt is now about twice that at 10.6 trillion and rising. The debt service (interest payments) is now 17% of the governments expenditure and rising. We are being swamped in debt. When the Chinese and other creditors decide to downgrade our credit rating and reduce our line of credit we will go down faster than Bear Stearns or Lehman Bros.

[aquafishsoup]

i smell shit when this video started playing!

[yonigga223]

So we have to get rid of bums and niggers that don't want to work. And social security.

[yonigga223]

We are being conditioned to accept being in debt! This is insanity.

[shiznaw]

AS of TODAY, this Video should be retracted. Points #1 and #5 are probably manageable, but everything else has just been proven to be wrong...

Thanxs for playin, but try again

[MagnaCartaFreedom]

Dosn't this video look stupid now!!!!!

[oooooDisgruntledMonk]

He forgot to mention the misconception that the democrats have been using the heck out of, the difference between the Gross national debt numbers and the Publicly Held national debt numbers.

[Shawntbell]

Not at all the view over Comptroller David Walker.

[truthforamerica]

Remember, if the debt numbers that we have now were under a Democrat, then it would be a good thing. It's just bad if Bush is involved.

[SendARope]

In order to get rid of the national debt get rid of the governments piggy bank aka: The Federal Reserve. This will force them to live within their means. While we may be a credit/consumer based people our government should not.