‘We have piled deficit upon deficit’
"For decades, we have piled deficit upon deficit, mortgaging our future and our
children's future for the temporary convenience of the present. To continue
this long trend is to guarantee tremendous social, cultural, political, and
economic upheavals.
You and I, as individuals, can, by borrowing, live beyond our means, but for
only a limited period of time. Why, then, should we think that collectively, as
a nation, we are not bound by that same limitation?" —Inaugural address, Jan.
20, 1981

-- Ronald Reagan