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On February 8, 2006, President Bush signed into law the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005. His last statements before signing were:

"The message of the bill I sign today is straightforward: By setting priorities and making sure tax dollars are spent wisely, America can be compassionate and responsible at the same time. Spending restraint demands difficult choices -- yet making those choices is what the American people sent us to Washington to do. One of our most important responsibilities is to keep this economy strong and vibrant and secure for our children and our grandchildren. We can be proud that we're helping to meet that responsibility today. Now I ask the members of Congress to join me as I sign the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005."

Then, on October 2, 2006, the Treasury Department reported that the National Debt increased $574.3 Billion in Fiscal 2006, compared to $553.7 Billion in Fiscal 2005. This is hardly keeping with the administration's goal of cutting the deficit in half by 2009!

In fact, here are the actual national debt figures from fiscal year 2000 (taken from the TreasuryDirect website provided by the U.S. Department of the Treasury Bureau of the Public Debt):

09/30/2008    $10,024,724,896,912.49
09/30/2007        9,007,653,372,262.48
09/30/2006        8,506,973,899,215.23
09/30/2005        7,932,709,661,723.50
09/30/2004        7,379,052,696,330.32
09/30/2003        6,783,231,062,743.62
09/30/2002        6,228,235,965,597.16
09/30/2001        5,807,463,412,200.06
09/30/2000        5,674,178,209,886.86

And now, as of 07/31/2009, the national debt for 2009 is over $11.5 trillion with two months to go!

Please understand that, as the deficit rises under the watch of these self-serving politicians, the federal government will be forced to attack even more of the assets and income of the American people. There is no other way out.

This will continue until the US economy collapses under its own weight - and one can not help but wonder why Congress is letting this happen.

Maybe they just don't care. After all, no one in their right mind would really believe these numbers set the stage for some sort of miraculous recovery.

- Ed Smith, Publisher
The EHS Letter Manual