The NYT attributed an inaccurate assertion to the Treasury that: “debt as a percentage of G.D.P. is rising and nearing a postwar high.”

Even counting the debt held by trust funds, the debt to GDP ratio is only around 70 percent of GDP. It was near 120 percent of GDP ($18 trillion in the current economy) immediately after World War II.

–Dean Baker

Dean Baker is senior economist at the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, D.C. He is the author of several books, including Rigged: How Globalization and the Rules of the Modern Economy Were Structured to Make the Rich Richer. Read more about Dean.