Harrolds.Blogspot.com
2009-07-11, source: http://www.davemanuel.com/2009/07/11/when-was-the-last-time-that-the-united-states-had-zero-federal-debt/
link source: http://www.davemanuel.com © 2009
When was the last time that the United States had NO federal debt to speak of?Was it 1950?
Was it 1900?
The actual answer is - 1836.
1836. Andrew Jackson was President of the United States. The Republic of Texas declared their independence from Mexico. Arkansas was admitted as the 25th state.
In short - it's been a long while since the United States had zero federal debt.
From 1792 to 1834, the United States was slowly able to whittle down the size of their debt in relation to their GDP.
In 1792, the Debt to GDP % was 35.1; by 1834, this number had been brought down to just 0.39%.
In 1835 and 1836, the United States (according to public records) had no public debt to speak of - a 0% Debt to GDP ratio that I'm sure will never be duplicated again.
Since 1836, the United States has managed to add nearly $12 trillion dollars in debt, and this number is expected to rocket higher over the next decade.
The "Panic of 1837" (and the 5 year depression that soon followed) helped to push the country back into the red, and we have never enjoyed debt-free status since.
Over the past 173 years, a number of events have conspired to push our national debt through the roof - a couple of World Wars, a number of other conflicts, a Great Depression, a number of recessions and a general distaste for maintaining a balanced budget.
This question seems almost ridiculous to ask at this point but I'll ask it anyways - will the United States ever be debt-free again?
Filed under: General Knowledge
USA Today recently published an article that has many people talking today.
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- After defeating one pro-life amendment Thursday night and adopting a phony ban on abortion funding, the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Friday afternoon defeated another amendment to limit abortion in the House health care restructuring bill. Rep. Joe Pitts, a Pennsylvania Republican, would ensure taxpayer dollars do not pay for abortions or subsidize health insurance plans that include abortion. "We want an explicit exclusion in the bill to prevent any taxpayer funding from paying for abortions," Pitts told his colleagues. "Anything else is wrong, and contrary to overwhelming popular opinion." Though Pitts received support from most Republicans and a handful of pro-life Democrats, he could not gather enough votes to overcome the pro-abortion Democrats who control the committee. The panel voted 31-27 against the amendment. Douglas Johnson, the legislative director of the National Right to Life Committee, told LifeNews.com: "This is 'Condition Red' for the pro-life movement. Every pro-life American should communicate, loudly and clearly, his or her opposition to this Obama-backed bill, before it comes to the floor in early September." 
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A House of Representatives committee, late Thursday, approved a phony "compromise" amendment to the health care legislation it is considering. The amendment, sponsored by an abortion advocate, gave the impression that it would stop tax-funded abortions in the health care bill but, in reality, would allow it. The House Energy and Commerce Committee has been considering its version of the House government-run health care plan, H.R. 3200. Rep. Lois Capps, a California Democrat, proposed an amendment that she claimed was a "compromise" between pro-life advocates and abortion proponents. The amendment explicitly permits the Secretary of the Health and Human Services Department, pro-abortion advocate Kathleen Sebelius, to include abortion in the services offered by public option and requires abortion coverage in the government health plan if the Hyde amendment is ever reversed. HR 3200 authorizes taxpayer-funded affordability credits and he Capps amendment specifically requires taxpayer subsidies to flow to plans that include abortion, but creates an accounting scheme designed to give the impression that public funds will not subsidize abortion. The Capps amendment also requires that a plan that includes abortion be made available in every region of the country. Despite bipartisan opposition from Republicans and some pro-life Democrats on the committee, the panel approved the Capps amndment on a 30-28 vote. (
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The House committee that is considering the main House health care restructuring plan defeated a pro-life amendment Thursday night that would stop any mandate for abortion coverage. The vote saw Tennessee Rep. Bart Gordon change his vote, allowing for its defeat. The panel's vote and re-vote came along with 
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Prescient Barack Obama on Thursday directed the National Institutes of Health to officially adopt its proposed rules to implement his decision to force taxpayers to pay for embryonic stem cell research. Obama reversed protections that prevented the funding of new research destroying human life. President Bush has kept protections in place because new embryonic stem cell research requires the destruction of unborn children to obtain their stem cells. The research has yet to help a single patient, unlike adult stem cell research -- which has helped patients with more than 100 diseases and medical conditions and which Bush supported with hundreds of millions in federal funding. 
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A new Rasmussen poll finds just 41 percent say they favor adding appeals court judge Sonia Sotomayor on the Supreme Court. The Senate is expected to vote on her confirmation next week -- and will likely confirm her -- to replace retiring pro-abortion Justice David Souter. Leading pro-life organizations 
London, England (LifeNews.com) -- Following a House of Lords 
Rome, Italy (LifeNews.com) -- The world may never know how many thousands of women have been injured, or even killed, by the dangerous RU 486 abortion drug. The best worldwide guess is that 13 women have been killed as a result of the mifepristone abortion pill, but the maker of the drug in Europe is saying 29 women have died. If the information given to the Italian Pharmaceuticals Agency (AIFA) by European abortion drug maker Exelgyn is correct, then twice as many women have died from the abortion drug globally than the pro-life community has thought. Currently, eight women have died from using the RU 486 abortion drug in the United States, two in England, and one each in Canada, Sweden and France. But, according to a report by the Italian news agency ASCA, Exelgyn provided the figure of 29 women dying from the abortion pill to the Italy Ministry of Health, which, in turn, gave the information to the AIFA drug regulatory agency. Meanwhile, Eugenia Roccella, the subsecretary of the Italian health office, also reportedly confirmed the figure she received from Exelgyn to L'Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper. 
London, England (LifeNews.com) -- The British House of Lords on Thursday issued a ruling allowing Debbie Purdy, a Briton who wants her husband not to go to prison for taking her to a Swiss euthanasia center, to escape a national law. The law allows for the prosecution of family members who talked loved ones out of the country for an assisted suicide. Under current English law, which has rarely been enforced, anyone assisting in a suicide could receive as much as 14 years in prison for doing so. British law covers a person who "aids, abets, counsels or procures" the suicide of another person. The High Court and the Court of Appeal had previously ruled that the Director of Public Prosecutions is not required to issue a public prosecuting policy on suicide tourism. Without such a public policy, Purdy can't know if her husband will face legal judgment after he takes her for an assisted suicide. The House of Lords ruling requires the DPP to issue guidance on when he will or will not prosecute those who criminally assist suicide. The judgment directs that the new policy should cover "a case such as that which Mrs Purdy's case exemplifies." 
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- With members of the House and Senate rejected amendment after amendment to stop taxpayer funding of abortions in the Congressional health care plans, the nation's Catholic bishops have written a second letter imploring elected officials to do something. The Catholic bishops say they are behind efforts to reform the health care system, but they say it must not be done on the backs of unborn children. Cardinal Justin Rigali, chairman of the Catholic bishops' Committee on Pro-Life Activities, wrote a letter Wednesday that is now becoming public. He urged lawmakers in the House to change H.R. 3200, the main House ill for a government-run health care system, to retain longstanding policies stopping taxpayer funding of abortion. Cardinal Rigali reiterated criteria for "genuine health care reform" set forth by Bishop William Murphy, chairman of the bishops' Committee on Domestic Policy, 
Those who would defend human dignity in the face of science's relentless march towards "discovery" are once again under attack. Senators Sam Brownback (R-KS) and Mary Landrieu (D-LA) are making headlines 
Edinburgh, Scotland (LifeNews.com) -- The parliament of Scotland is expected to debate a bill this fall that would legalize the practice of assisted suicide. MSP Margo MacDonald had originally secured enough support from colleagues to introduce the measure and now it has won cross-party backing. The proposal would allow people with a progressive and irreversible illness, the terminally ill, or those who had an "intolerable" quality of life to kill themselves with the help of a doctor. Private bills at Holyrood require at least 18 signatories before they can be presented and MacDonald's bill has the support of 21 MSPs. In comments to the London Guardian newspaper, MacDonald said that her bill would allow someone like Debbie Purdy, 
Trueman says it is an "outrage" that federal monies are being given to porn-producing organizations. "The National Endowment for the Arts has long been fought by American Family Association and other pro-family groups because year in and year out, they fund pornography and blasphemy," he tells OneNewsNow.
"7 Days in May," (1964) Movie Sound Bite: