The Recession and the Debt to GDP Ratio

In the year 2000, the debt to GDP ratio is 55.6%. It had been shrinking for the last nine years. By 2010, after the Great Recession and the War on Terror, it had jumped to 93%. Normally, as the dust settled from war or recession, deficit spending would be cut. But around 2007, Congress and each successive president stopped bothering to try. No serious Republican presidential candidate could ever threaten to raise taxes even to balance the budget. So we entered a new period of brinksmanship where Republicans said they absolutely need to fix the national debt by cutting spending. And Democrats said, you guys are fundamentally unserious. You can't grow your way out of this. We