Just love the multiplier stories

Let's define multiplier as change in  red line over change in blue line, compare slopes.  And we see Clinton, the Bubba version, GDP rising faster than debt, about the same under Reagan.    Under lil Bush we see the ratio is closer to one, and under Obama debt does very little for total growth.

What happened?
We never paid off the debt, it grew.  Interest payments grew until the economy no longer has the surplus to generate increased interest payments.  We cannot lower rates as our foreign creditors have currency risk.

Clinton got some of it paid off, but the rest, mostly bailout debt, has long since been assigned permanently to the loss pile.  This is Reagan bailing out Texas S&L, lost.    The federal welfare system was incurring losses, as are most of the rapid transit systems.  Entitlements have begun to show losses. Very little of the debt is paid back.

The next phase.
It's on the graph, that last little jump which occurred right after Obama and the Republicans raised the debt limit.  That jump is the start of the next federal recession cycle, and if the pattern holds, multipliers will be worse than useless.

The real problem
Jefferson was right about self adapting networks. It is the state maladaption problem.

 What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants