Bill Clinton deregulated private-sector borrowing, creating an even more illusory picture of prosperity. George W. Bush and Barack Obama incurred debts that no politician in Reagan’s time had dreamed of. Those debts would be paid by a third party: the children and grandchildren of the Baby Boomers. By the time of the presidential election in November 2016, the national debt stood at just under $20 trillion and the government’s unfunded liabilities were at least five times that.
