06x05 - Tyrannosaurus Debt

[bunniefuu]

[narrator] What's the national debt?
It's a monster.

[tour guide] To your left, folks,
is the Washington Monument.

To your right, the White House.

And over there,
just beyond the capitol,

is the national debt!

[tourists]
Whoa! Ooh! Oh, wow!

♪ There's something huge
Red, white and blue ♪

-[munching]
-♪ That's grazing in D.C. ♪

♪ It's gobbling up the taxes
That are paid by you and me ♪

♪ It doesn't seem to notice
We really can't afford ♪

♪ The billions that it's costing us
To pay its room and board ♪

♪ It doesn't roam but seems content
To dwell on Capitol Hill ♪

♪ As long as trucks keep pulling up
With tons of greenback bills ♪

♪ We've got to feed the big guy ♪

-♪ We really can't forget ♪
-[bell dings]

♪ It has an awesome appetite
Tyrannosaurus debt ♪

[tour guide] The debt was born in 1790,
when our new government

took over $75 million the colonies spent
in the Revolutionary w*r.

♪ We've gotta feed the monster ♪

-♪ So it doesn't get upset ♪
-[bell dings]

♪ It's got an awesome appetite
Tyrannosaurus debt ♪

[tour guide] Alexander Hamilton,
our first secretary of the treasury,

he's on the ten, you know,
wanted a federal debt

to provide a reason to establish taxes
to support our new nation.

♪ The debt was young, they kept it small
They didn't know back then ♪

♪ In 1812, another w*r
Would make it grow again ♪

♪ By '66, the Civil w*r
Had cost the nation millions ♪

♪ The government in Washington
Now had a debt of billions ♪

[tour guide] The Civil w*r ran up a debt
of almost three billion dollars,

that still wasn't paid off
by World w*r I.

♪ We're spending money we don't have
Or so it would appear ♪

♪ The deficit is that amount
We overspend each year ♪

♪ Though Congressman and Senators
Make vows to cut its size ♪

♪ Despite their honest efforts
The debt just seems to rise ♪

[tour guide] Now the debt's over
Five trillion dollars and still growin'.

♪ A balanced budget would be great
To spend within our means ♪

♪ And stop the monster in its tracks
Before we bust our seams ♪

♪ It feeds on just the interest
Its appetite is whet ♪

♪ It never ever stops to rest
Tyrannosaurus debt ♪

[tour guide]
And this is the US Treasury.

It sells treasury bonds,
bills and notes and

savings bonds to finance the debt.

The US Government promises
to pay the owner interest,

plus the value of each bond,
at a future date.

♪ We've got to try to tame the debt
And bring it down to size ♪

♪ To let it grow unchecked like this
Is certainly unwise ♪

♪ The debt's a monster problem
That we really can't ignore ♪

♪ I guess we should be grateful
That it's not a carnivore ♪

♪ We got to keep on servicing ♪

-♪ Our trillion-dollar pet ♪
-[bell dings]

♪ It's got a monster appetite
Tyrannosaurus debt ♪

♪ A fiscal misadventure
With trillion-dollar dentures ♪

♪ Tyrannosaurus debt ♪

[tour guide]
Feeding time is all the time.