Cord Byrd: “Yes, I was here when the Reagan administration blew into town. And in all of the 39 previous administrations--182 years…”

“Yes, I was here when the Reagan administration blew into town. And in all of the 39 previous administrations--182 years of administrations under various political parties--the Nation had accumulated a total debt of less than $1 trillion. I saw Mr. Reagan get on television with that chart, pointing to that stack of what he called, would represent a stack of $1,000 bills, ``Have a stack four inches thick and you will be a millionaire.'' He said it would take a stack of $1,000 bills 63 miles high to be representative of the debt that had been accumulated in all the administrations going back to the year 1789. He never appeared on television with that chart again, Senator. Know why? Because during his administrations the debt reached to a total of over $3 trillion, and then, during the Bush administration, it reached $4 trillion.”