The majority of the US debt has been accumulated on the watch of Republican administrations. Clinton left a surplus, and Bush drastically raised debt with unpaid for and unnecessary wars (2), two tax cuts paid for with the Clinton surpluss that vanished with the wars, and an unpaid for Medicare drug bennefit. At the end of his last term, he and Paulson robbed the treasury to socialize the losses of the bankers that lead us into this Great Recession. Obama has increased the debt in order to stave off a Great Depression and help start the recovery out of this Great Recession. Much of the problem with the debt and deficits will be greatly reduced if the Republicans and Democrats have the courage to roll back all the Bush tax cuts, increase the FDIC withholding to $200,000 (and peg that to inflation), and stop the trading of corporate tax credits on K Street. IMO