Orrin Hatch: “having said that, during the 2008 Presidential campaign, one of the candidates criticized the outgoing President for…”

“having said that, during the 2008 Presidential campaign, one of the candidates criticized the outgoing President for adding $4 trillion to the national debt. He called that increase not only irresponsible but even ``unpatriotic.'' Barack Obama was that candidate. He won the election and took office with the Government Accountability Office warning the long-term fiscal outlook is ``unsustainable.'' The national debt on inauguration day 2009 was $10.6 trillion, and it stands at $19 trillion today. The national debt for American households has risen from $93,000 to nearly $160,000 since President Obama took office. If a $4 trillion increase is irresponsible and unpatriotic, what words describe an increase that is more than twice as large? The national debt crisis has been around for a long time, but we have never been in a more serious, perilous situation than we are today. One way to grasp the magnitude of the national debt is to compare it to the size of the economy, or the gross domestic product. In other words, we can compare what we owe to our ability to pay. When President Obama took office, the national debt was 82 percent of GDP. It is now 105 percent of GDP today, by far the largest increase in American history during a President's first 7 years. Economists tell us that the national debt above 90 percent of GDP for a sustained period of time will lead to substantially slower economic growth and higher interest rates.…”