GOP presidents added to debt

Perhaps conservative readers of this newspaper who obstinately claim that Barack Obama is spending this country into oblivion should take note of what has occurred since President Carter left office: 1) The national debt in 1979 was $900 billion. 2) During the three Republican administrations of Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and George W. Bush, the national debt increased by $8 trillion. 3) George W. Bush left office with a $1.3 trillion budget deficit. 4) During Bill Clinton’s administration, the national debt increased by $1.4 trillion. 5) Bill Clinton left office with a budget surplus decreasing the national debt. 6) Barack Obama — because of his inheritance of Bush’s record deficit of $1.3 trillion, with a near economic collapse, the devastating housing calamity, both caused by financial deregulation under previous administrations — funded a stimulus program that arguably saved the nation from total ruin.

Before Obama taking office and since Jimmy Carter, the Republicans increased the national debt by 85 percent!

How many of Obama’s political opponents today were in Congress during the previous administration when record-setting levels of spending occurred? How many of them voted against it? Shouldn’t these readers do their homework before drawing conclusions?

James D. Cook

Streamwood