“The Treasury Department said Tuesday that the federal government has now officially topped $16 trillion in debt,” the Washington Times notes:
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.
Tuesday’s numbers reflect where debt stood as of close of business Friday, which was the previous business day.
The government had closed Thursday with gross debt at $15.991 trillion, but that jumped to $16.016 trillion on Friday after a round of debt auctions.
Concurrently, “Food-stamp use reached a record 46.7 million people in June, the government said, as Democrats prepare to nominate President Barack Obama for a second term with the economy as a chief issue in the campaign,” Bloomberg.com reports. To paraphrase Bookworm’s post here, we can dub both of these milestones as Obama’s Major Domestic Accomplishments as president, along with his stated goal in 2008 of increasing energy prices.
Meanwhile, as Ramesh Ponnuru warns, “If You Think Obama’s First Term Was Bad, Imagine a Second.”
Professors Cloward and Piven could not be reached for comment — but Paul Ryan could:
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