It’s Official, US Federal Debt Now Exceeds $16 Trillion … And Counting

$16,000,000,000,000 and counting …

As the Democrat National Convention started their this afternoon, the US federal debt went over $16 trillion. Metaphor? In less than four years in office Barack Obama has already eclipsed President George W. Bush’s eight years. The increase in debt was bad enough under GWB; however, during the Obama presidency it has been unreal.

The Treasury Department said Tuesday that the federal government has now officially topped $16 trillion in debt.

The announcement, which came just an hour before Democrats gaveled in their convention in Charlotte, N.C., to renominate President Obama for another four-year term, immediately boosted the government’s grim fiscal picture back to the fore of the national debate.

Debt has risen at a meteoric pace under Mr. Obama — in less than four years in office he has already eclipsed President George W. Bush’s eight years. His advisors say he has a “plausible” plan to stabilize the debt, but defend his spending plans, saying to withdraw government stimulus now would hurt the economic recovery.

This has got to come to an end. The increasing federal debt has got to be stopped. This has become criminal. Any one who defends the record debt that Obama ran up knows nothing about economics and what is devastating the United States. However, if you think Obama has done damage during his first term , imagine, just imagine another one. Ramesh Ponnuru warns, “If You Think Obama’s First Term Was Bad, Imagine a Second.”

In another recent interview, Obama likened the Republican opposition to him to a “blister” that will be “popped” by the election (an image for which I will not soon forgive him).

If the president believes anything like this would happen in his second term, he is kidding himself. If Obama wins re-election, the Republican Party will react by moving right, not left. It will become less likely to compromise with Obama, not more.

If Obama wins, he will almost certainly win with a smaller majority of the vote than he got in 2008, in defiance of the usual trend: Incumbents who win re-election usually do better the second time around. Republicans will almost certainly add to their ranks in the Senate, and may take a majority. No way would they see this set of election results as a “decisive” statement of support for Obama’s views.