Why the US has Record Debt/Deficit

Here is an interesting post by Barry Ritholtz on his The Big Picture blog:

My friend (and Washington State money manager) Carl writes about our three trillion dollar war post:

The biggest reason the U.S. is marching towards receivership—-the U.S. refused to pay for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Instead of raising taxes like we did to pay for WW 1 —we lowered them. Instead of having a high marginal tax rate for the wealthy, President Bush and the congress lowered taxes.

The following is just about Iraq and does not include the cost of Afghanistan.

Read about steps taken to prepare for and pay for WW 1.

And tax rates during WW 2.

Fascinating stuff — thanks Carl!

The links to WWI and WWII are to the "economic history" encyclopedia and are excellent. The link to the three trillion dollar war is to an excellent graphic that lays out the costs of the war in one big poster.