Friday, September 19, 2008

Pay off half of the national debt, at the level it was when Bush entered office


For the price of the Iraq War, we could've paid off half of the national debt, at the level it was when Bush came into office.  

At the end of the Clinton Administration, the national debt was at $5.7 trillion.  The debt had actually declined by $360 billion over the last three years of the Clinton Administration, because of budget surpluses.  (At this point, the national debt is $9.65 trillion.)  Paying off half the national debt at the level it was at the end of the Clinton Administration would cost $2.85 trillion, which is less than Joseph Stiglitz and Linda Bilmes' estimate of $3 trillion for the cost of the Iraq War.