They start with one pottymouth that posts this plot of the national debt in current dollars with a title that holds the president responsible --giving congress a free pass. This is met with a reply post of bar graph in constant dollars, as if adjusting for inflation was all that was necessary. Yeah right. The decades go by with no change in population, wealth, technology, economic power.
When we get into this on a freeper thread, we've at least got the sense to use %gdp stats from the GPO's numbers (from Table 7.1). OK, not nearly as dramatic, but those of us who work for a living prefer reality during the day and drama with our evening's entertainment.
Here's the bottom line: debts are useful tools, be they national, credit card, or mortgages. Sure it's bad when idiots let things get out of control, but most adults are responsible. Let's get a grip. Our grandparents weren't bad people when they went into debt to defeat Hitler; they immediately paid it back to prewar levels. Same for our parents with finishing of the cold war. I know all the global-warmer types need their morning crisis to start their day, but reality is that the debt/%gdp is going down.