Under President Bush, how many more of these does the U.S. owe?

It's time for a two-question quiz:

Question No. 1: By how much has the national debt grown under President Bush?

Is it a.) $1 trillion? b.) $2 trillion? c.) $3 trillion? d.) $4 trillion? e.) More than $4 trillion?

(Remember: We're not asking how much is the national debt; just by how much it has increased).

Question No. 2: Under which of the 44 presidents has the debt grown the most?

Answers: It has grown by more than $4 trillion under Bush--and that's more than under any previous president.

We can thank Mark Knoller, a White House correspondent for CBS News, for doing the not-so-complicated math.

On CBS News' Couric&Co. blog, he points out that when Bush took office, the national debt was $5.727 trillion. The Treasury Department's most recent account says it has hit $9.849 trillion.

"That's a 71.9% increase on Mr. Bush's watch," Knoller points out.

And along comes the bailout--which at least for the time being could add hundreds of billions of dollars to the debt-if ever approved. (Bush said this morning "much if not all" would be paid back. But with the House's rejection of the plan a few minutes ago, even that may be moot.)

But just in case, Knoller notes, the bailout legislation contains this provision: The debt ceiling can go as high as $11.315 trillion.

-- James Gerstenzang

Photo: U.S. Department of the Treasury

Comments

[Stephen]

Sigh. What will it take to wake up the zombie right-wing conservative red states to the fact that this guy in the white house is RUINING our entire world?

[Barbara Ghiselin]

Bush can't do anything right- He WILL go down as the worst president we have ever had. McCain is losing it. Many of us knew Reagan (yrs before it was announced) that he had Alzheimers.McCain tries to twist all the blame for everthing on Obama.
Really, really stupid to chose Palin for his VP. The GOP always put their party FIRST without consideration for the country