Under President Obama's stewardship -- and more than with any previous president -- the national debt has doubled to roughly $20 trillion. The deficit is staggering in its scope and its implications will continue to plague Americans for generations to come. 

Of course it's no sweat off Obama's brow, because it's up to the next president, and Congress, to fix it. That was the message put out by White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest when asked recently about the Congressional Budget Office's projection that the federal deficit will increase by 33 percent this year alone. The Washington Times reports: 

[...]Earnest cited reasons including an aging population and Republican-sponsored tax cuts.

Then he added, “There’s certainly a lot money that can be saved, and this will be a challenge that the next president and the next Congress will have to do.”

CBO said this week that the government will end fiscal 2016 on Sept. 30 with a deficit of about $590 billion, or 3.2 percent of gross domestic product. That’s up from 2.5 percent of GDP in fiscal 2015, and the first time in six years that deficits are rising as a share of GDP.

Mr. Obama and Congress racked up annual deficits topping $1 trillion in his first three years in office, as Washington tried to blunt the effects of a severe recession. After a peak deficit of $1.4 trillion in 2009, the government’s red ink fell to a low of $439 billion in fiscal 2015.

Earnest, with his usual lack of self-awareness, even said the president is "quite proud" of his record "of reducing our deficit by about three-quarters."

"That’s [an] indication that we had things moving in the right direction, but it’s clear that as the population of the United States ages that there are additional steps that we’re going to need to take," Earnest said before admitting that healthcare "is increasing in cost" and that it will have to be ... wait for it... "reformed"! 

This administration has buried the country underneath more debt than any other presidency has in history. It officially destroyed an already gravely imperfect healthcare system, raising insurance costs to record highs. The White House admits as much, pats itself on the back for selling Americans into indefinite debt and servitude, then says it's the next guy's problem to deal with. The hubris is quite simply breathtaking.

(image source: cdn.cnsnews)