May 12, 2025
Writes Murray Sabrin:
The letter writer (May 11) who criticizes a previous letter writer who decried increases in the national debt and praised President Trump and the Republicans for addressing the issue is half right.
The May 11th letter asserts the national debt rose $8.18 trillion under President Trump (2017-2021) while the national debt increased only $4.16 trillion during President Biden’s tenure in the White House. He thus implies Trump and the Republicans are hypocrites regarding the hyperbolic rise in the national debt.
According to the chart posted by the Federal Reserve of St. Louis Economic data series (FRED) using US Treasury data, the national debt rose from $19.97 trillion (last quarter of 2016, three weeks before Trump was inaugurated) to $27.7 trillion at the end fourth quarter of 2020, or slightly less than $8 trillion.
The national debt increased from $27.7 trillion from the fourth quarter of 2020 (three weeks before Biden was inaugurated) to $36.2 trillion by the end of the fourth quarter of 2024, or $8.5 trillion, not the $4.16 trillion the May 11th letter writer asserted. In short, the national debt increased by virtually identical amounts under Trump and Biden.
The bottom line is that both Trump and Biden exploded the national debt highlighting the reckless spending of the Washington establishment.
