[OC] – US -Bundesschuld zum BIP, 1773 – anwesend

Many people have seen a graph of US debt-to-GDP since 1790. That data can be pulled from CBO and FRED. But it annoyed me that earlier data wasn’t available from the usual sources.

So I asked ChatGPT to see if earlier data was available, and use that to estimate aggregate debt to economic output for the US colonies before the Constitution was ratified. I then „verified“ it with Grok. A more formal verification will have to wait until I have more free time (ChatGPT lists papers/books with the historical data).

I thought the data added a bit more historical context: Not once in our country’s history has the US ever been so deeply in debt.

The two previous peaks (WW2 and the American Revolution) could at least be rationalized due to war spending.

I’m not sure how to rationalize our current debt. It appears to be a combination of hegemonic spending to protect/enlarge our „empire“ and deter future Great Powers conflict, and several decades of elected officials who borrow to keep the economy growing and voters placated on their grandchildren’s credit card.

Let’s start with what happened with Reagan’s presidency as it looks like the trend increased during his reign.