"When I walked into the door of the White House, our government was spending about 25 percent of GDP but taking in only about 16 percent of GDP.  Without action, the accumulated weight of that structural deficit, of ever-increasing debt, will hobble our economy, it will cloud our future, and it will saddle every child in America with an intolerable burden.  This isn't news.  Since the budget surpluses at the end of the 1990s, federal debt has exploded."  President Obama, February 18, 2010.