In her speech at the 2008 Democrat National Convention, Michelle Obama said her daughters’ future was at stake in the upcoming presidential election: “And I come here as a Mom whose girls are the heart of my heart and the center of my world. They're the first things I think about when I wake up in the morning, and the last thing I think about before I go to bed at night. Their future—and all our children's future—is my stake in this election.”
She should be thankful they were not born in 2010. According to a new House GOP report, each child born in 2010 bears a $29,178 share of the public debt (the figure is based on numbers issued by the Congressional Budget Office). And the astounding figure is, in part, thanks to legislation passed under her husband’s watch.
The GOP-issued timeline shows that when these kids are 10 years old, they will each be responsible for $49,694 of the national public debt. By 18, when they’re trying to afford college, it will be $80,650. By the time they graduate from college, their share of the public debt will have tripled.
And when these children reach 40, their part of the national debt will be 859% more than what it currently is. The individual price tag will be $279,738.
“For a family of four, the total household debt share would be approximately $1.119 million,” the GOP report says.
The report references a Wall Street Journal article which reports an increase in baseline spending - or “future spending based on the law at the time” - by $4.4 trillion since January 2008, under a Bush White House and Democrat Congress. The Democrats regained the White House and enjoyed a huge majority in both the House and Senate that November.
