Comments about ‘Letter: Enough with the Mayans — look at the national debt clock’

Yes, and while we're looking at that debt clock how about looking behind it for the real REASONS why it is ticking so fast.

If anyone will take the time and make the effort to learn the REASONS, instead of simply trumpeting even more of the usual hate radio nonsense, they might learn a simple surprising fact.

It is NOT all due to Obama as some wearing tinfoil hats want to believe. It goes directly back to Saint Ronald and comes back to haunt us through all the spendthrift presidents and GOP Congresses that have managed to dupe us by setting up smoke screens of proclaimed "thrift."

It comes down to enormous tax cuts and enormous investment in the military/industrial complex and favors to some big industries. To two recent unfunded wars and host of other spending programs now engraved in stone.

The fact remains that policies increasing spending under Obama are lower than under any president since the days of Richard Nixon --- except for Jimmy Carter and Clinton.

But truth is not part of the GOP platform. And they are still able to fool many people.

I agree. We obsess about fantasies and ignore the real and present threats.

The writer fails to recognize the true nature of the Mayan Calendar and the national debt clock. Both are exactly the same thing. They are both phony propaganda tools used to frighten and control the minds of people. And in both cases, many people have been fooled.

Also, in my world, being attacked by the North Koreans rates about the same amount of concern as the Mayan Calendar.

If and when the American experiment fails, it will most likely be for the same cause as most every other government has failed. That being the commercial corruption of the government leaders.

If the national debt clock was so important then why were conservatives/repubs silent for 8 years about it? Last I checked there was a President in-between Clinton and Obama who conservatives never like to talk about.

Elephant in the room maybe?

If only repubs cared about the debt clock then we'd be in a completely different situation now.

The truth of the matter is, repubs don't care about debt... As long as they're in power...

I am hoping that the economy can function with a deficit/debt as it has mostly over the last 50 years. Yes, there are downturns and bubble bursts but also there has been growth.

The debt itself is a hopeless situation and is all about mathematics. I would invite all to look up Al Bartlett on you tube as he does a nice presentation on doubling time.

We can't tax ourselves out of it and we can't austerity ourselves out it either. Since politicians don't really want to radically (with the emphasis on the word radically) social security and medicare or defense spending, nothing much can be done. It's all about mathematics. So back to the original question, is the debt or national debt calculator fatal to our economy? I would say people personal debt and (lack of) savings is a bigger issue, what say you?

Among the real and present threats is not North Korea, which is hardly beyond throwing rocks in our direction. Nor Iran, Our deficit is a problem, but if we refuse to look at tax increases or military spending cuts we're just paying this one lip service.

To "The Real Maverick" the conservatives were not silent about it for the past 8 years. They have been screaming that the deficit needs to be eliminated for a very long time. Don't go blaming the conservatives because you didn't realize that the people yelling at the Republicans to balance the budget were conservatives.

True conservatives were not silent during the Bush years. The TEA party was actively working to curtail spending to a level that the taxes would support long term.

Many of us were totally up in arms because the republican congress acted like democrats, spending like there was not tomorrow, instead of enacting the conservative programs they promised they would.