[sinbad17]

I am 79 and it seems to me the national debt has always been increasing as long as I was aware there was one. If we have balanced budgets in the past why hasn't it gone down. I think the idea of a balanced budget is all smoke and mirrors. My point is I don't ever think it will be eliminated merely by watching the annual budget. Maybe some of the vast lands the government owns should be put on sale bet they add up to a hell of a lot more than three trillion.

[sinbad17]

Meant eight trillion.

[AmericaUnited]

If we have balanced budgets in the past why hasn't it gone down.

Because there are many 'off-budget' accounts that get stacked on the debt pile. When Slickster was claimning a balanced budget, the debt ceiling went up something like 350 billion.

[PureTrouble]

The reason the national Debt is rising since 1960 is that a Democratically controlled house senate and President moved the Social Security fund (protected) to the general fund ledger in mid 1960's.

The Slope of the public debt starts to increase in that decade and continues to get larger and larger as government got larger and larger.

Way to go Dems /sarcasm

[layman]

Maybe some of the vast lands the government owns should be put on sale bet they add up to a hell of a lot more than eight trillion.

It's hard to find an exact number but the best I can determine there are about 470 million acres of federally owned land, including mountains, deserts, national forests, etc. Assuming half of it could somehow be sold, it would have to sell for about $35,000 per acre to equal the eight trillion of debt.