National Debt Roars Past $9 Trillion

The news should have made banner headlines, but few paid attention as the U.S. national debt passed the $9 trillion mark this week. I suppose the lack of interest is understandable, since the citizens who will be stuck paying this bill are mostly in grade school. The sad thing: the national debt was "only" $5.735 trillion when George W. Bush took office in January 2001. We’re on pace for the national debt to increase by more than 50% during his 8 year tenure as chief executive. That’s despite the fact that federal revenues are projected to grow 30% during the same period. (that’s from U.S. government budget projections in nominal dollars) America has a spending problem, yet policymakers are looking to increase taxes instead of trimming the budget.