@kazetnagorra said
Which one is it? Did Trump or did Trump not have control over the debt?

He has some control but a great majority of the spending was already decided.

That's the great thing about entitlements and other spending. Future politicians have zero input regarding most spending.

@whodey said
He has some control but a great majority of the spending was already decided.

That's the great thing about entitlements and other spending. Future politicians have zero input regarding most spending.

It wasn't "already decided" to implement a huge tax cut funded by debt.

@sonhouse said
@Philokalia
Here is the bottom line: the INTEREST on those loans come due every year even if we can't draw down the principle.
So that means a half trillion comes out of our budget before ANYTHING else is paid.
The higher the ND, the larger just the INTEREST payment becomes.
The ND is on its way to become 30 trillion in a few years and if this trend is not countered, ca ...[text shortened]... al deal is that was a cynical effort of the tax plan of Trump and company, see my last post on that.

This [1] is the result of a gilt auction. The average price sold at was £104.251 for a yield of 1.159%. Inflation is currently 1.8% so this corresponds to a negative real interest rate. So it's not clear to me that running a deficit is a bad idea.

[1] https://www.dmo.gov.uk/media/15797/140219conventional.pdf

@kazetnagorra said
Which one is it? Did Trump or did Trump not have control over the debt?

He most certainly did not have control over what the debt was before He took office, do you know how those before him dealt with the debt? If you are going to blast Trump for what the debt is now while he is in office because of how high it is, look at those before him, and see what occurred during each of their terms. A tremendously high debt carries with it the interest which he has no control over even now. Be fair, go back just 4 presidents and see what occurred, getting to 22T wasn't done in Trumps term only.

@kellyjay said
He most certainly did not have control over what the debt was before He took office, do you know how those before him dealt with the debt? If you are going to blast Trump for what the debt is now while he is in office because of how high it is, look at those before him, and see what occurred during each of their terms. A tremendously high debt carries with it the interest wh ...[text shortened]... ir, go back just 4 presidents and see what occurred, getting to 22T wasn't done in Trumps term only.

Just yesterday Trump clearly explained that Obama, who increased it more than all presidents combined, left us with a depleted military,etc, and the only thing he could do to clean up the mess of Obama, starting with rebuilding the military, was to increase the debt even more. So blame Obama. Surely all of us know we need a strong miltary. But after he whips Kim Un and Putin into submission as he is doing, why, why while we need a Military?

@kellyjay said
He most certainly did not have control over what the debt was before He took office, do you know how those before him dealt with the debt? If you are going to blast Trump for what the debt is now while he is in office because of how high it is, look at those before him, and see what occurred during each of their terms. A tremendously high debt carries with it the interest wh ...[text shortened]... ir, go back just 4 presidents and see what occurred, getting to 22T wasn't done in Trumps term only.

If you are going to blast Trump for what the debt is now while he is in office because of how high it is, look at those before him, and see what occurred during each of their terms.

I recommend you follow your own suggestion.