# Is this National Debt graph accurate? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [November 13, 2010, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-national-debt-graph-accurate/560539 "2010-11-13T05:41:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![chacoguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2010, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-national-debt-graph-accurate/560539/1 "2010-11-13T05:41:28Z")
[Percent of GDP towards debt.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:US_Federal_Debt_as_Percent_of_GDP_by_President.jpg) Let’s argue about the politics in another thread. How accurate is this graph? ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2010, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-national-debt-graph-accurate/560539/2 "2010-11-13T05:49:01Z")
One caveat is that I don’t know what the numbers should be for 2009 and 2010. A lot of the deficit was into things that may have a real financial payback (for instance, spinning back off some GM stock back to the public.) So we don’t know how to properly value those assets. The rest of it seems accurate enough, it would pretty much be what I’d draw if I were asked to estimate it from memory. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2010, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-national-debt-graph-accurate/560539/3 "2010-11-13T12:22:10Z")
Why does the OP seem to question its accuracy? ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2010, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-national-debt-graph-accurate/560539/4 "2010-11-13T13:02:03Z")
Man, WWII was really frakking expensive. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2010, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-national-debt-graph-accurate/560539/5 "2010-11-13T13:08:51Z")
The blue should be darker, but otherwise it looks OK. not sure what the OP is looking to debate here. Are we to consider the national debt to be the single most important economic parameter? The era of ‘stagflation’ occurred when the debt was at its relative lowest point, and I think most people would say that was an undesirable situation. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2010, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-national-debt-graph-accurate/560539/6 "2010-11-13T16:44:04Z")
Please include a warning if your link sends us someplace where we have to look at Jimmy Wales’s face. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2010, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-national-debt-graph-accurate/560539/7 "2010-11-14T00:37:44Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > Please include a warning if your link sends us someplace where we have to look at Jimmy Wales’s face. Aaaaamen. I already gave last year, and I think I might give _next_ year, but the chances of that go down every time I see his face. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2010, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-national-debt-graph-accurate/560539/8 "2010-11-14T01:12:38Z")
Looks pretty similar to [this](http://dshort.com/charts/federal-debt-to-gdp.html?federal-debt-to-gdp-politics-update) one. This question should probably be in GQ. -XT