Wondering where the Federal debt came from? Welfare? Safety net? Social Security? Here are some interesting figures. (Figures are from the Federal Bureau of the budget)

Year             Federal debt
1791              $  75,463,476.52      (yes, that is indeed, 75 million)
1817              $123,491,965.16      (war of 1812 ends)
1835              $         33,733.05     (that is indeed 33 thousand dollars)
1846             $   15,550,202.97         (start of Mexican War)
1851             $   68,304,796.02         (Mexican War Over)
1860             $   64,842,287.88         (Civil War begins)
1866           $2,773,236,173.69         (Civil War ends. that is 2 billion)
1912           $2,868,373,874.16         (haven't added much, but have not reduced it either)
1919         $27,390,970,113.12          (World War I over)
1932         $19,487,002,444.13          (the prosperity of the 20's didn't do a whole lot)
1941         $48,961,443,535.71           (Depression and the New Deal. welfare? yes)
1946       $269,422,099,173.26           (World War II ends)
1962       $298,200,822,720.87           (Cold War didn't add much, even with Korea)
1974       $475,059,815,731.55           (guns and butter. Vietnam War and War on Poverty)
1980       $907,701,000,000.00           (recession of the 70's and oil embargo.
1988    $2,602,337,712,041.16          (eight years of military build up, and fiscal soundness.
1993    $4,411,488,883,139.38          (four more years of military build up)
2001    $5,807,463,412,200.06          (eight years of Democratic wild spending.)
2009   $11.909,829,003,511.75         (War on Terror)
2012   $16,737,246,099,998.00         (Still war on terror)

The only time the budget was ever reduced to nothing was during the administration of Andrew Jackson. How did he do it? He removed the Creek and Cherokee Indians and sold their land. This advice might work today. Our government just needs to grab somebody's land and sell it to pay off the debt.

Who has a solution to this? A founding Father, of course.

George Washington in his Farewell Address in said "As a very important source of strength and security, cherish public credit. One method of preserving it is, to use it as sparingly as possible; avoiding occasions of expense by cultivating peace, but remembering also that timely disbursements to prepare for danger frequently prevent much greater disbursements to repel it; avoiding likewise the accumulation of debt, not only by shunning occasions of expense, but by vigorous exertions in time of peace to discharge the debts, which unavoidable wars may have occasioned, not ungenerously throwing upon posterity the burthen, which we ourselves ought to bear."                                                                                                                              In other words, pay off your war debts as quickly as possible. We haven't followed his advice very well over the past 210 years. How to reduce the national debt? Don't spend so much on war and preparation for war.