Cantor Claims $2.8 Trillion In New Debt Is Greater Than $10.6 Trillion In Existing Debt
Posted in Main Blog (All Posts) on October 3rd, 2010 4:39 am by HL
Cantor Claims $2.8 Trillion In New Debt Is Greater Than $10.6 Trillion In Existing Debt
The GOP has been roundly panned for many of its claims in the “Pledge to America”. They declared that it was a grassroots-inspired document, despite being authored by a lobbyist for AIG, Exxon Mobil, and Pfizer. House Republicans maintained that it wasn’t necessary to include an earmark ban because they already had a self-imposed moratorium, despite the fact that the agreement expires before the next Congress even begins.
Now, House GOP Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA) is peddling absurd claims about the Pledge’s fiscal policies. Responding to a question during a conference call with Republican supporters on Thursday, Cantor claimed that next Congress, the GOP would “stop this cycle of” deficit spending because, he alleges, the increase in the national debt we’ve incurred since President Obama took office “has exceeded that which this country has incurred over the last 200″ years.
JAMES: I’ve been very concerned for quite some time about the fact that the national debt just keeps growing, growing and growing. The point being that it’s around $13 trillion now. What makes us different than, say, Greece or Spain, in terms of facing collapse while we’ve already borrowed all the money we can from China. It appears to me that we have the Federal Reserve loaning money to the Treasury, for God’s sake. What’s going to stop this?
CANTOR: Well James, we can stop it, and that’s why we need your help. We’ve got to stop this cycle of spending money we don’t have. This spending and debt we’ve incurred over the last two years has exceeded that which this country has incurred over the last 200. And so, you’re right by issuing the alarm that if we do not stop and arrest this trend, we will become like those European welfare state countries where more and more people are going to be taking more benefits from the government than that which they pay in.
Listen here:
Both assertions are laughable. First, CAP’s analysis found that the GOP’s policy proposals in the Pledge would result in a budget deficit that was $200 billion larger in 2020 than it would be under President Obama’s budget, “and over the next 10 years deficits would be $1.5 trillion higher than under the president’s budget.” Consider the two plans side-by-side:
Second, on the day President Obama took office, the national debt stood at a record $10.6 trillion. Since then, the debt has increased an additional $2.8 trillion. The notion that President Obama incurred more debt over the past year and a half than had been incurred in the two centuries prior is comically false.
It seems that “Young Gun” Cantor — the brains behind the GOP’s “You Cut” website — needs a basic class in accounting.
