FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE National Debt Is Skyrocketing Reports Economist, Allen W. Smith, in New Book* FROSTPROOF, Fla., January 30, 2008 In 1981, the national debt reached the $1 trillion mark for the first time ever. It had taken the United States government 192 years and the cumulative budget deficits of all the presidents from George Washington through Jimmy Carter, to accumulate that first $1 trillion, but things were about to change in a big way. Tax-cut fever descended upon the nation with the election of Ronald Reagan to the presidency, and it was not accompanied by any noticeable willingness to also cut government spending. The government traded what some critics called a longstanding policy of “tax and spend” for a new policy of “borrow and spend.” As a result, it took only five years for the nation to add the second trillion dollars to the debt and four more years to reach the $3 trillion mark. The long-held notion that the government should not spend more than it collected in tax revenue was abandoned by those who managed the people’s money in Washington. In 2007, the national debt passed the $9 trillion mark, and the interest on the debt is today costing Americans more than $1 billion per day, each and every day, 365 days per year. However, few Americans are aware of these facts. How could they be? They have been told repeatedly that the national debt was going to be paid down. President Clinton, Vice President Al Gore, and President George W. Bush have all promised to pay the debt down, even as it soared higher and higher. And, just this week, during the heated Florida primary, the candidates promised to make the Bush tax cuts permanent and to cut taxes even further. In addition, very few Americans know that a substantial portion of the debt is now owed to foreigners. Approximately 44 percent of the publicly held debt in 2006 was held by foreign investors. About 66 percent of that 44 percent was held by the central banks of foreign countries with most of it being held by the central banks of China and Japan. When the United States pays interest on the debt, a lot of those interest dollars flow out of the American economy and into the economies of these foreign nations. It is hard to see how that can be good for America or its citizens. In a sense, we are mortgaging the future of our children and grandchildren by our irresponsible deficit spending today. Does anybody care? *Demystifying Economics, The Book That Makes Economics Accessible to Everyone, Expanded Third Edition, Allen W. Smith, Ph.D.; Ironwood Publications: LCCN 2007934821; ISBN: 978-0-9770851-2-5; Pages: 288, 6x9; $26.95; Publication date: January 2008 CONTACT: Barbara Rugel, Marketing Director, Ironwood Publications; (800) 840-6812; ironwoodas.aol.com