TDIH: Ronald Reagan on debt
"Can we, who man the ship of state, deny it is somewhat out of control?"
Forty-four years and $35 trillion ago, Ronald Reagan addresses the nation.
"Can we, who man the ship of state, deny it is somewhat out of control?" he asked. "Our national debt is approaching $1 trillion. A few weeks ago I called such a figure, a trillion dollars, incomprehensible, and I've been trying ever since to think of a way to illustrate how big a trillion really is. And the best I could come up with is that if you had a stack of thousand-dollar bills in your hand only 4 inches high, you'd be a millionaire. A trillion dollars would be a stack of thousand-dollar bills 67 miles high."
Some food for thought for your day. How far we have fallen since then?!
Dear regular readers: Full-fledged history stories return tomorrow morning
Thank you Tara. Ronald Reagan certainly had a way with words. It seems only yesterday that he spoke those words about the USA being a trillion dollars in debt. I believe that I remember that we were something like 8 trillion dollars in debt during GW Bush's presidency and now we are more than 36 trillion dollars in debt some 16 years later. A 7 trillion dollar government is unsustainable. God bless DOGE. May it be very successful and sustainable.
President Reagan’s words hit home! He considered $1 trillion a financial disaster. What would he say about $35 trillion? His warning wasn’t heeded and now we have a major financial crisis. Praying the Trump administration can clean up the fiscal pit created in the past even though they are working against strong headwinds. Our children and grandchildren will bear the burden if they aren’t successful.