To show you that the current deficit of 4.2% of GDP is less than that same
ratio at the end of the last recession.

Apple vs. Oranges

Still fruit but not the same thing.

The budget deficit, while a contributing factor to the accumulated national
debt, is not the same thing at all.

Even when we run a budget surplus, (you remember surpluses- I think the D's
were in charge back then), that doesn't automatically reduce the national debt.
Your debt only goes down if you use money left over after paying current
expenses (the surplus) to retire a portion of it. You can run a suplus and
still see an increase in the national debt, just as if you
earn more household income than you spend in a month but then turn around and
allow your mortgage company to defer your payments.

Budget deficit is like current income. National debt is more like net worth.

Here's a little more math for you. That family of five? Owes just over $114,000
worth of the national debt. There's comfort for ya. That's got to be a
signficant portion of the "average" family's net assets in the US. More than
for a good many, especially if you take a "purist" approach to calculating net
worth and eliminate equity in a primary residence.

Budget deficit is like current income. National debt is more like net
worth.

BINGO!

And our ratio is now lower than it was through the 90's. Our collective net
worth is much more important than the yearly deficit or surplus. In fact the
US went from a 80% debt ratio in 1950 to a low 20's ratio in 1980 with only
4 "surplus" years.

http://www.ustreas.gov/press/release...2003charts.pdf