This is an incredibly depressing factoid.

“According to the U.S. Treasury Department, America’s first 42 Presidents, from George Washington (1789) to Bill Clinton (2000), borrowed a combined total of $1.01 trillion from foreign governments and financial institutions. From 2000 to 2006, the Bush White House has borrowed $1.05 trillion alone. Yes, that means we have borrowed in the last 5 years what we had previously borrowed in the first 211 years of our country.”

For more good stuff, be sure to check out the recently aired Frontline entitled Can you afford to retire? – the entire episode is online in streaming Real/WMP chunks.