Total federal debt was $620 billion in 1976. Why 1976? In a recent column, Holman Jenkins referenced Jimmy Carter's contention in a 1976 debate that "The best way to control inflation is to cut down government waste...and to let the American free-enterprise system work freely and effectively."
Jenkins subsequently wrote that Carter had "given voice to the animating spirit of American reform that would transcend the parties over the next 20 years." There's no disagreeing with Jenkins about the free enterprise portion of what Carter said, but Jenkins could possibly be convinced that Carter's comments about inflation were, if anything, backwards. That Carter misspoke on inflation, its causes, and the budgetary implications of inflation (or a lack of it), is a major driver of The Deficit Delusion, and the book's arguably quixotic attempt to convince left, right and in between that the deficit and debt discussion is profoundly mistaken on the matter of why we have debt in the first place.