A picture, it is said, is worth a thousand words. Following that wisdom, here are 2,000 words, neatly packaged in a pair of graphs. The first (which appears after the break) shows the national debt since 1980, along with increases in the debt ceiling. One particular feature worth observing is the sudden steepness of the curve beginning around 2009. It’s hard to imagine why that is so.
The second chart, courtesy of Rich King, shows the employment picture since 2003. Again, something significant seems to happen when the Democrats who control one or both houses of Congress are joined in 2009 by a president who rose to prominence on the professed ideal that there is no Red America and no Blue America. Again that downward curve becomes sharper, but remember — Barack Obama did promise hope and change. One of two ain’t bad.