Gary Varvel for April 29, 2024

Note that the kid isn’t dreaming; he’s wide awake and sees the real threat to democracy

Around we go. What amount of debt seems realistic for an ordinary working stiff? We USAians typically go into debt for home ownership… and the amount is quite often as much as 5 times the debtor’s annual income. What seems to count more is whether they can manage the payments. It’s apparently difficult to get good numbers but the median payments to net income ratio seems to run above 25%.

So with all that as background, how much debt is it okay for the US government to have? I’ll let you do the math. But the bottom line is that — as usual — Varvel is blowing smoke: If the gross national product continues as it is, then this much debt isn’t more than an eyebrow-raise of worry. But when you talk about “$trillions in debt” it sure SEEMS to be too huge, doesn’t it?

D for Democrat Debt

The monster under the bed story is real — the continual Democratic nightmare.

But it ok for people to be billionaires?

Both major parties have a plan to deal with debt and deficit:

Democratic Plan: Tax increases and slashed benefits for people living in luxury.

Republican Plan: Tax increases and slashed benefits for people living in poverty.

Biden-Harris 2024. If you have a shred of decency.

Future generations should worry more about a little something called national bankruptcy not national debt.

The DC Swamp doesn’t do much right, but they are very adept at spending and wasting our money. $34,694,227,467,984

The solution proposed by Republicans is, of course, more tax cuts that will pay for themselves.

The only time Republicans care about the deficit is when they are in the minority

I’m not sure what inspired this one, but it’s at least refreshingly different from the usual. I remember thinking about that as we went into 1984 with Reagan sure to win a second term. He had this plan that reduced income while increasing expenses.

A scare tactic, nothing more.

Notice how the RWNJs do not want to say anything about their demented Fat Orange Clown’s contribution to this amount (as they richly enriched the rich more).

From the Washington Post and Pro Publica in 2021

One of President Donald Trump’s lesser known but profoundly damaging legacies will be the explosive rise in the national debt that occurred on his watch. The financial burden that he’s inflicted on our government will wreak havoc for decades, saddling our kids and grandkids with debt.

The national debt has risen by almost $7.8 trillion during Trump’s time in office. That’s nearly twice as much as what Americans owe on student loans, car loans, credit cards and every other type of debt other than mortgages, combined, according to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. It amounts to about $23,500 in new federal debt for every person in the country.

The growth in the annual deficit under Trump ranks as the third-biggest increase, relative to the size of the economy, of any U.S. presidential administration, according to a calculation by a leading Washington budget maven, Eugene Steuerle, co-founder of the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center. And unlike George W. Bush and Abraham Lincoln, who oversaw the larger relative increases in deficits, Trump did not launch two foreign conflicts or have to pay for a civil war.

Don’t cut my programs. Don’t tax my stuff. That seems to be the GOP position.

Definitely something else to blame Joe for.. A proper president would have reduced the Republican debt.

What’s the plan Mr. Varvel? Trim the fat as long as it’s someone else’s? Raise someone else’s taxes?

When the Republicans have the White House they run up the debt. When Busch 1 began running up the debt, Chaney explained “Reagan has proven that Deficits Don’t Matter". They only become an issue for Republicans when a Democrat is in the White House and the bills need to be paid. Then they do this charade so that they can blame the Democrats and make points for the next election.

Reagan took the deficit from 70 billion to 175 billion.

Bush 41 took it to 300 billion.

Clinton got it to zero.

Bush 43 took it from 0 to 1.2 trillion.

Obama halved it to 600 billion.

Trump got it back to a trillion.

Biden reduced it $350 billion his first year in office. And the budget office expects to see it drop by another 1 trillion, 500 billion dollars – the largest drop ever. This is despite a $1.9 Trillion pandemic relief package. The Republicans screamed about this at the time, but it is credited with funding a faster recovery than anywhere else in the world, and actually decreasing the debt further.

The National Debt is out somewhere beyond my great-grandchildren’s great-grandchildren’s taxes. By the time the Good Lord says I am ready to leave this old world, it will likely move up another six generations. The people most able to help pay it down will continue to pay the least taxes.

Only when Democrats are in office. Republicans are such hypocrites.

That’s exactly what they told us in 1972, and again in 1983.

2024 could be an historic year in a very bad way… total gross interest payments on the national debt could total $1 trillion amounting to almost one out of every six dollars the U.S. government spends. By comparison, in 2021, it was one out of every fifteen dollars. In 2023, 13 cents of every tax dollar collected was spent on interest and it will likely be higher this year. Bottom line, it isn’t the size of the debt that matters but rather the cost of servicing it with dollars that could be much better spent.

That former Donnie feller sure chucked a lotta snacks this feller’s way . . .

This subject angers me to the furthest extent. Both Parties are responsible for the deplorable situation we find ourselves in where we don’t bring in enough in revenues to cover our debts.

Americans, generations into the future, will be paying for our selfishness and irresponsibility. We’re floating on the backs of our children, their children and their children, and on and on.

When will our politicians have the spine to lower our spending and raise our taxes in order to balance the budget and pay down our enormous, choking debt ?

We pay as much in just interest on our debt every year as we do on National defense .. and that doesn’t pay our debt down a single penny. It’s a great shame that our leaders are so irresponsible, at the expense of our children.

But then, why is it the GOP persons who raise or allow the debt to grow so much?

Republicans NEVER cut spending, NEVER reduce the deficit.

It is just one more “issue” to weaponize and LIE about.

Until we have a Constitutional convention the spending will go up, we getting close they need 6 more states.

I fear future generations have far worse things to worry about than national debt.

On net, almost all of the $8.4 trillion in ten-year debt approved by Trump came in the form of legislation, with costly executive actions largely offset by a unilateral expansion of tariffs. It included $8.8 trillion of net increases in the debt and $445 billion of net reductions. $7.3 trillion represents an increase in primary deficits, and $1 trillion comes from interest costs.

Based on past history, they will need a 4 democrat to 1 republican’t ratio to get back into the black and save something for the future

Based on past history, they will need a 4 democrat to 1 republican’t ratio to get back into the black and save something for the future. (Funny his logo shows Clinton who brought us the closest in the last 50 years

Trump doubled the national debt giving tax breaks to billionaires like Trump.

If reelected Trump has promised to continue the Republican socialist distribution of wealth to the people with the most money and the middle class gets to pay for it.

A real conservative would consider that we have to borrow when times are bad (or to make expensive investments in the future) and pay it back when times are good. The conservatives we’re stuck with currently preach against deficits at all times, and create the biggest ones (or borrow money in good times and cut back on spending during bad).

And how did all those Billionaires get created or added to in the last few years? The money that could have helped pay down the debt, but instead got funneled directly into their anonymous overseas accounts so they can buy yachts and vacation homes in the Tropics. So much for trickle down.

Reagan said debt doesn’t matter, so what is this toon complaining about if he is a rightwing nut follower.

I think Varvel just has toons like this lying around for when he can’t come up with anything particulary false (and hopefully amusing) about current events.

And still………..republicans aren’t the solution, republicans ARE the problem.

I guess it’s only an issue when a Democrat is in the WH. Varvel said nothing when the Fraudfather and the RW Congress blew huge crater with their 2017 Tax Cut and Spend Scam.

Citizens didn’t write the spending bills. If and when the time comes, the national debt would be settled by selling DC politicians. They’re good for it, just ask the lobbyists.