Blame voters for debt that keeps on soaring

Presidents come into office thinking they must tinker with the nation’s economy and some of them screw it up.

Take George Bush as the latest to tinker:

He inherited a budget that produced surpluses after a decadelong period of growth.

So, what did he do? He tinkered, big time. With no evidence to support his warning, he said the economy was slowing badly and needed fixing. A rubberstamp Congress quickly approved President Bush’s 10-year, $1.35 trillion package of tax cuts and the national debt has climbed ever since, even without the war spending.

The next president will inherit a $482 billion budget deficit for 2009. It will be the biggest deficit ever.

Meanwhile, the U.S. National Debt Clock reported Tuesday morning that the nation owes nearly $10 trillion, or $31,595 for each of us.

By the way, the Clock also notes that the deficit has soared an average of $1.77 billion per day since Sept. 28, 2007.

Our presidential candidates and people running for Congress are not talking realistically about this problem. Perhaps, that is because they wish to be elected in November.

Sen. John McCain calls for a balanced budget but also wants more tax cuts. Sen. Barack Obama wants to take from the rich and give to the poor and middle class.

The pressure to deliver more and tax less makes us, not the politicians, responsible for the continuing deficits.