Fix recession first, then tackle the deficit
February 24, 2009
Just how worrisome our national debt has become was readily evident when Secretary of State Hillary Clinton publicly thanked the Chinese for buying so much of it.
The national debt is the cumulative total of the federal government’s annual budget deficits, which got out of control during the Bush administration and are now, it is generally agreed, at unsustainable levels. They erode our economic power internationally and cede a certain amount of control over our economy to outsiders.
President Barack Obama takes center stage on Tuesday to try to sell the American people on his broader agenda for jolting the United States out of deep recession and confronting long-term economic challenges.