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November 11, 2009

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Next generation in dilemma on how to pay for Reagan era

Thursday, March 7, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

The truth is we are all to blame. The White House, Congress, the military, Wall Street, the banks, the savings and loans, and corporate America -- all greedy and shortsighted.

Congress has always spent money on pork, but it was the Reagan tax cut and unprecedented military spending that sent the national debt through the roof.

During the Reagan years, America borrowed more money than the previous 200 years combined. After World War I and World War II, the debt was about $300 billion, then FDR, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford and Carter added about $700 billion to the debt so that by 1980 it was approximately $1 trillion.

During the Reagan years, we borrowed $2 trillion more so that by 1989 the debt was $3 trillion. By 1992 it was $4 trillion and today the national debt is $5 trillion. I don't think our children are stupid. I think they realize we have mortgaged their future, and the question is who is going to pay for the Reagan years.

Anthony P. Tidel

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