[Hoot Gibson]

You're right in that I didn't research it at all.  I realize that it is a part of the equation, I just don't think it's a big part.  It's my opinion that Politicians are the problem.  Rand Paul may be the only one in Washington who understands fiscal responsibility well enough to be able to tackle the deficit, but he would have my vote because it may be the greatest danger facing the US going forward.  

I may have to look into Obama and the deficit when I have time, but it seems like everything that I have seen over the past 2-3 years has Biden & Trump adding more to the deficit than anyone prior.  Again, I'm going on memory, and the older I get the worse it seems to betray me, although I'm not nearly as old as our last 2 Potus have been.

Then you’d be wrong again, if you notice The Real Thing understood exactly what I was talking about with GDP and our national debt….. Yes politicians are the problem but not for the reasons your thinking, they’ve created this problem with their march towards globalization and sending as much of our industrial power as possible to other countries…. Of course they have no fiscal restraint but the country isn’t taking in the tax revenue it should be with all the industrialization lost…. It’s the biggest reason they hate Trump he calls them out for passing NAFTA and he’s not going along with the plans for globalization at all…..

Nafta was replaced by the USMCA trade agreement, which is suppose to be in place now.

It doesn’t matter different name for same results, that’s the problem, it’s supposed to be a free trade agreement which means there where no tariffs on each others products, the United States followed the agreement, guess who didn’t?  The same two whining now about reciprocal tariffs

I haven't seen anything that states that Mexico or Canada broke the agreement.  Trump actually broke it this year though, then changed his mind when reminded that he had brokered the deal originally, then rescinded the tariffs on the items that were covered in the agreement.

Of course you haven't. If MSN doesn't report it, it never happened in your world. The U.S. government has failed to enforce the terms of international agreements for decades. It's almost as if U.S. politicians have been paid to look the other way.