Are you better off than you were four years ago?

May be? Click here. As a country, we are better

off by at least $3.5 trillion.Why? See graph.

US National Debt, D [$, trillions]

Image Credit: Chris Kleponis; Paul J. Richards/Getty Images

22.00
20.00
18.00
16.00

D = 0.00656 t 8.344
Between 6/30/08 and 12/31/08

14.00
12.00

10.00
8.00
0

500

1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 4000 4500 5000

Time t [ in days since George Bush Presidency]

Time t is in days, with day 1 being Jan 20, 2001, when President George W Bush
took the oath of office. Debt D is in trillions of dollars. The quarterly debt data
were obtained from the website of the Bureau of Public Debt. Blue diamonds are
for the Bush second term (starting 9/28/2007). The red squares are for the Obama
presidency, through August 30, 2012. Towards the end of the Bush term, the debt
was increasing at a high rate 0.00656 trillion per day, or $6560 million per day.
The debt growth rate has slowed down since then. The blue dots are the projections
based on the final year of the Bush presidency. Click here for more details.
Compiled by Dr. V. Laxmanan, Sep 3, 2012. Email: vlaxmanan@hotmail.com
Page 1 of 4

Are you better off than you were four years ago? asked then candidate Ronald
Reagan in his closing remarks during the final Presidential debate of 1980.
This is a question that is being asked again in 2012 and even Democrats are having
trouble answering this question.
It appears that the country may be better off by at least $3.5 trillion, if we consider
the slowing down of the debt growth rate since President Obama came to office.
Is this a favorable sign?
Is this good enough?
Let the people answer on Election Day.
Let the long term unemployed answer on Election Day, November 6, 2012.

Click here for a slide show on Presidential Fun facts.

Note: The raw data used to prepare the graph on page 1 is compiled in Table 1.
Towards the end of the Bush presidency, the rate of the growth of the debt
accelerated significantly, see companion article (click here). The debt increased by
the amount D = ($10.699 $9.492) = $1.207 trillion between June 30, 2008 and
Dec 31, 2008. The days elapsed, t = 184. Hence, the equation of the straight line
joining these two points is D = 0.00656 t 8.344. The slope h = D/t = 1.207/184
= $0.00656 trillion per day. The blue dots, where D = $16 trillion and $20 trillion
are extrapolations. If the debt has continued to increase at the same rate, on August
30, 2012 (time t = 4241), the debt would have increased to $19.48 trillion. Instead,
we just crossed the $16 trillion mark, because of the slowing down of the rate of
debt increase a savings of nearly $3.5 trillion!

Page 2 of 4

Table 1: US National Debt (Jan 20, 2001-Aug 30, 2012)

Date

1/19/2001
3/30/2001
6/29/2001
9/28/2001
12/31/2001
3/29/2002
6/28/2002
9/30/2002
12/31/2002
3/31/2003
6/30/2003
9/30/2003
12/31/2003
3/31/2004
6/30/2004
9/30/2004
12/31/2004
3/31/2005
6/30/2005
9/30/2005
12/31/2005
3/31/2006
6/30/2006
9/29/2006
12/29/2006
3/30/2007
6/29/2007
9/28/2007
12/31/2007
3/31/2008
6/30/2008
9/30/2008
12/31/2008
1/20/2009

Days between
Time t
dates
Days in Office
0
70
91
91
94
88
91
94
92
90
91
92
92
91
91
92
92
90
91
92
92
90
91
91
91
91
91
91
94
91
91
92
92
20

0
70
161
252
346
434
525
619
711
801
892
984
1076
1167
1258
1350
1442
1532
1623
1715
1807
1897
1988
2079
2170
2261
2352
2443
2537
2628
2719
2811
2903
2923

Debt, D
$, trillions
(Bush)
5.728
5.774
5.727
5.807
5.943
6.006
6.126
6.228
6.406
6.461
6.670
6.783
6.998
7.131
7.274
7.379
7.596
7.777
7.836
7.933
8.170
8.371
8.420
8.507
8.680
8.850
8.868
9.008
9.229
9.438
9.492
10.025
10.699
10.627

Debt, D
$, trillions
(Obama)

Page 3 of 4

Table 1: US National Debt (Jan 20, 2009-Aug 30, 2012)

Date

Days between
dates

1/20/2009
3/31/2009
6/30/2009
9/30/2009
12/31/2009
3/31/2010
6/30/2010
9/30/2010
12/31/2010
3/31/2011
6/30/2011
9/30/2011
12/31/2011
3/31/2012
6/29/2012
8/30/2012

20
70
91
92
92
90
91
92
92
90
91
92
92
91
90
62

Time t
Days elapsed
(Since Bush)
2923
2993
3084
3176
3268
3358
3449
3541
3633
3723
3814
3906
3998
4089
4179
4241

Debt, D
$, trillions
(Bush)
10.627

Debt, D
$, trillions
(Obama)
10.63
11.13
11.55
11.91
12.31
12.76
13.20
13.56
14.03
14.27
14.34
14.79
15.22
15.58
15.86
15.99

Page 4 of 4