The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB) is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization. Their mission is to educate the public on issues with significant fiscal policy impact.

They looked at Trump’s four years and Biden’s three years and five months to date. Instead of simply looking at the increase in debt during their term, which is at least partially due to the policies of their predecessors, they looked at the projected 10 year impact (a standard convention) of fiscal policies they personally approved.

Does this chart alone prove one is good and one is bad? Of course not. The full article is worth a read and dives much deeper into partisan vs non-partisan debt approved and executive action vs legislative debt. There’s an argument that an economy can “outgrow” the debt based on the economic activity it creates. This chart also doesn’t show the details behind what the debt was for, other than the covid breakdown. Minds certainly differ on whether the cost in debt is worth the benefit we’re receiving.

That said, I do think this chart contradicts the narrative that President Biden is more recklessly spending than President Trump. Despite some claims that Trump would “drain the swamp” and be a fiscally conservative businessman, he approved about twice the debt that Biden has so far. Biden’s Covid PLUS non-Covid debt adds up to less than Trump’s non-Covid debt alone. So we can’t even blame Covid on this one.

Obviously there will be some who are big-mad in the comments yelling at me, a white man who runs a finance page, for posting factual information that doesn’t align with their perspective of the world. But, the facts are the facts. I personally would LOVE to vote for a fiscally conservative leader who can help get our debt problem under control. But the choices are the choices.

As always, reminding you to build wealth by following the two PFC rules: 1.) Live below your means and 2.) Invest early and often.

-Jeremy