September 2024
Eric Hovde ran an interesting campaign ad. Not recently, but when he first tried for the Republican Senate nomination. He eventually lost to Tommy Thompson.
In the ad, as I recall, Hovde was walking on blocks representing our national debt until they became too high to even climb. I hope his team runs a similar ad this time. I also recall reading our former Senator Proxmire’s retirement speech in the 1980s. At the time our nation’s debt was about two trillion dollars. In a nutshell he thought our nation was doomed if we didn’t confront our addiction to debt.
I encourage readers to research that history. The site I consulted only went back to 1929. That year the Stockmarket crashed and Hoover was President. Here are a few “highlights” regarding the debt:
In 1929, it was $17 Billion. Note these numbers are not adjusted for today’s dollar value. When FDR took the helm in 1933, it rose from $20 B to $27 B by year’s end. When he died in 1945, that year would end with a $259 B debt.
You may say, “Yes, but the Great Depression, WWII, etc.” Yet, the trend has not changed. JFK was assassinated in 1963 and at year’s end $306 B in debt. In Reagan’s first year, 1981, it almos ...
