School House Rock - Tyrannosaurus Debt

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: Oooo! Wow!There's something hugeRed, white, and blueThat's grazing in D.C.It's gobbling up the taxesThat are paid by you and meIt doesn't seem to noticeWe really can't affordThe billions that it's costing usTo pay its room and boardIt doesn't roamBut seems contentTo dwell on Capitol HillAs long as trucks keep pulling upWith tons of green-back billsWe've got to feed the big guyWe really can't forgetIt has an awesome appetiteTyrannosaurus DebtTOUR GUIDE: The debt was born in 1790 when our new government took over 75 million the colonies spent in the Revolutionary War.We've got to feed the monsterSo it doesn't get upsetIt's got an awesome appetiteTyrannosaurus DebtTOUR GUIDE: Alexander Hamilton, our first Secretary of the Treasury (he's on the 10, 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 smallThey didn't know back thenIn 1812 another war would make it grow againBy '66 the Civil War had cost the nation millionsThe government in Washington now had a debt of billionsTOUR GUIDE: The Civil War ran up a debt of almost three billion dollars that still wasn't paid off by World War One.We're spending money we don't haveOr so it would appearThe deficit is that amount we overspend each yearThough congressmen and senatorsMake vows to cut its sizeDespite their honest effortsThe debt just seems to riseTOUR GUIDE: Now the debt's over 4 trillion dollars and still growing...A balanced budget would be greatTo spend within our meansTo stop the monster in its tracksBefore we bust our seamsIt feeds on just the interestIts appetite is whetIt never, ever stops to restTyrannosaurus DebtTOUR GUIDE: And this is the U.S. Treasury. It sells Treasury Bonds, bills, and notes, and savings bonds to finance the debt. The U.S. 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 debtAnd bring it down to sizeTo let it grow unchecked like thisIs certainly unwiseThe debt's a monster problemThat we really can't ignoreI guess we should be gratefulThat it's not a carnivoreWe've got to keep on servicingOur trillion dollar petIt's got a monster appetiteTyrannosaurus DebtA fiscal misadventureWith trillion dollar denturesTyrannosaurus DebtTOUR GUIDE: Feeding time is ALL the time.

Channel: Film & Animation
Uploaded: January 18, 2008 at 5:23 pm
Author: cartoonsongs

Length: 03:01
Rating: 4.94
Views: 13432

Tags: Debt  House  Rock  School  Tyrannosaurus  

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