AP writer tries to blame national debt on Founding Fathers

Posted July 3rd, 2009 by cablenewsjunkie

http://finance.yahoo.com/...

MOUNTAIN OF DEBT: Rising debt may be next crisis

MOUNTAIN OF DEBT: Legacy of debt from Founding Fathers not celebrated on Independence Day

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Founding Fathers left one legacy not celebrated on Independence Day but which affects us all. It's the national debt.

The country first got into debt to help pay for the Revolutionary War. Growing ever since, the debt stands today at a staggering $11.5 trillion -- equivalent to over $37,000 for each and every American. And it's expanding by over $1 trillion a year.

Read the rest at http://finance.yahoo.com/...

output

Uneducated Hack:

On July 3rd, 2009 Tramp says:

I'm not much of a writer, but this guy is actually getting paid to write about something he is most certainly uneducated on.

Andrew Jackson!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I love my country
I am appalled by my government

damn those founding fathers of ours...

On July 3rd, 2009 IR8 says:

for voting for our 2T a year budget deficits from beyond the grave?

hi , my name's common sense. have we met? no?. ill just be off then.

Andrew Jackson

On July 3rd, 2009 doctor011 says:

Paid off the national debt. 1913 started it again if i understand correctly

THE ELIMINATION OF THE NATIONAL DEBT IN 1835

On July 3rd, 2009 doctor011 says:

THE ELIMINATION OF THE NATIONAL DEBT IN 1835

AND THE MEANING OF JACKSONIAN DEMOCRACY

Carl Lane
Professor of History
Felician College
Lodi & Rutherford, New Jersey
http://www.business.aubur...

On January 1, 1835, the United States paid off entirely its longstanding public debt. For that year and the next the nation enjoyed debt-freedom, the only two years in its entire history when it held no obligation to creditors. For this reason the years 1835-1836 are unique and significant, but, oddly enough, historians of Jacksonian America have overlooked what this financial circumstance and its anticipation meant to the era.1 This historiographical oversight is particularly striking because the Jacksonians themselves and their opponents made much of the extraordinary financial situation which materialized during Andrew Jackson’s second term. National debt-freedom was, in fact, a core element of what is commonly called Jacksonian Democracy.2
No one doubted Andrew Jackson’s determination to pay the public debt in full. In his March 4, 1829, inaugural address he declared that economy in government constituted one of his highest priorities “because it will facilitate the extinguishment of the national debt.”6 Jackson kept his word. Not only did debt steadily decline until elimination in 1835, but Jackson’s policies aimed at assuring that no new debt would be contracted. The great public issues of the Jackson years—internal improvements, recharter of the Bank of the United States, and nullification—were all debated on the elevated plane of the Constitution.

Thanks patriot

On July 3rd, 2009 legalizeliberty says:

good info.

"The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government -- lest it come to dominate our lives and interests."
-- Patrick Henry

Googling the author and

On July 3rd, 2009 SirThinksAlot says:

Googling the author and referring to past work often helps in determining editorial direction. Think I do just that.

I remember a day when outlets such as AP and Reuters were non-biased, credible sources of just the facts news. That day passed a long time ago.

bump

On July 3rd, 2009 legalizeliberty says:

well said.

just another hatchet man

On July 3rd, 2009 SirThinksAlot says:

Tom + Rahm, first result

http://www.salon.com/opin...

Just as I thought, scratch the surface and just another tool with no credibility. But who needs journalistic ethics nowadays when people like Neil Cavuto and Brenda Butler get fat on the hog disguising talking points as honest journalism.

He's a paid shill.

On July 3rd, 2009 SimpleSam says:

And a great tool to practice demolishing arguments!

The Founding Fathers didn't increase the debt, they were simply firmly in back of sound economics and silver currency gold caps. They put a limit on spending.

Until the Central Bank came to power, and then of course, the Founding Fathers had quite the ear full......

Well, Hamilton did push...

On July 3rd, 2009 elrococco says:

for the creation of a national debit. He studied, in depth, the English banking system and felt that any strong nation owed some of that strength to incurring a reasonable amount of debt. It sounds a little backward to me, but that's part of the reason we kicked the British out now isn't it.

Assert Your Authority

except the national debt

On July 3rd, 2009 Bob Smith 1234 says:

except the national debt didn't 'grow ever since' as he puts it...

I don't understand how he can say that.

What do you not understand?

On July 3rd, 2009 FoxCreek says:

He is doing the job he is paid to do.
He is writing for the Associated Press.
I actually find it amusing that he quotes Alexander Hamilton, tool of the banksters, to defend his propaganda.