... in 1790 when it assumed $75 million in the war debts of the Continental Congress. Alexander Hamilton, the first treasury secretary, said, "A national debt, if not excessive, will be to us a national blessing." Some blessing. Since then ...

... he never shared with the Great Communicator, was deadly accurate. As Lloyd Bentsen, Bill Clinton's shrewd first Treasury Secretary, described the accounting, Reagan spent his eight years in office cashing one "$200 billion hot check" after ...