Senator John Thune Presentation on Debt Projections

Slide: Debt held by the public as a % of GDP

These videos are from Senator John Thune’s town hall meeting at the Surbeck Center on the campus of the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology, August 28, 2009.

In this introductory portion before the question and answer segment, Thune shows a slide presentation on the current debt and projections for the U.S.

Thune said that while congress is out now during the August recess (and can’t do anything to the American people), they will be back in session in September, and there are a number of things to be concerned about then.

On the issue of health care, Thune showed a slide presentation which provided some background on the fiscal state of our country and the tremendous costs a government health care option would add to that already staggering debt.

As you can see from the first slide, our debt situation–already of concern–has exploded in the last year.  It should also be noted that unless otherwise indicated as you see in some of these slides, this debt and these debt projections do NOT include the additional cost of a government health care system.  As you see in some which do note this addition on top of existing debt, the cost of this socialist program would be crippling to our economy.

Record deficits

As the second slide shows, we spent 232 years racking up $5.8 trillion in debt, but in the next 7 years will add $9 trillion in debt to that (again, not counting what a government health care system would cost).

Notice from the “Record Deficits” graph how the levels of each year’s deficit spending goes up.  During the time frame of 2009 and 2019, we add an average of $1 trillion in deficit spending.

It is insane to even think of adding trillions of dollars of debt to our already-crippling level of debt…for a program that doesn’t even pass constitutional muster in the first place, and proves to be an inefficient joke everywhere it’s tried in the world.
The amount of debt per American family seen in the “Doubling and Tripling of the Debt” side amounts to $80,000.  You have a lot of things you need to pay for in your own family, right: groceries, rent or house payment, car payment, medical bills for having your children, clothing them, preparing for their education, and so on.  Doesn’t it make you feel wonderful to know that Uncle Sam will be knocking on your door demanding $80,000  to pay for his crack habit before you pay for all your family’s legitimate needs?

On the issue of government health care specifically, the socialists in congress desperately want us to believe it will be “budget neutral” and won’t cost us anything.  Now maybe you believe the commercials that want to give you a “free” vacation in Las Vegas, but you shouldn’t believe this too-good-to-be-true offer from Comrade Sam.

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has already filed a report stating it will cost $1 trillion or more…and still won’t solve the issue of the uninsured.  Other estimates of the cost of this socialist program predict a cost of $4 trillion…or more.

Part 1

Part 2

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