Laurence M. Vance: The Cause of current U.S. deficits and debt

  Except for a brief period of time in 1835 under President Andrew Jackson, the United States has been in debt since the founding of the Republic. The first reported national debt in 1791 was over $75 million. Congress now spends more than that every ten minutes.

  Since the last year of the Bush administration, annual federal deficits have exceeded $1 trillion. The federal budget is fast approaching $4 trillion a year. The national debt will soon exceed $15 trillion — more than our annual GDP.