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!

There's something huge

Red, white, and blue

That's grazing in D.C.

It's gobbling up the taxes

That are paid by you and me

It doesn't seem to notice

We really can't afford

The billions that it's costing us

To pay its room and board

It doesn't roam

But seems content

To dwell on Capitol Hill

As long as trucks keep pulling up

With tons of green-back bills

We've got to feed the big guy

We really can't forget

It has an awesome appetite

Tyrannosaurus Debt

TOUR 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 monster

So it doesn't get upset

It's got an awesome appetite

Tyrannosaurus Debt

TOUR 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 small

They didn't know back then

In 1812 another war would make it grow again

By '66 the Civil War had cost the nation millions

The government in Washington now had a debt of billions

TOUR 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 have

Or so it would appear

The deficit is that amount we overspend each year

Though congressmen and senators

Make vows to cut its size

Despite their honest efforts

The debt just seems to rise

TOUR GUIDE: Now the debt's over 4 trillion dollars and still growing...

A balanced budget would be great

To spend within our means

To stop the monster in its tracks

Before we bust our seams

It feeds on just the interest

Its appetite is whet

It never, ever stops to rest

Tyrannosaurus Debt

TOUR 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 debt

And bring it down to size

To let it grow unchecked like this

Is certainly unwise

The debt's a monster problem

That we really can't ignore

I guess we should be grateful

That it's not a carnivore

We've got to keep on servicing

Our trillion dollar pet

It's got a monster appetite

Tyrannosaurus Debt

A fiscal misadventure

With trillion dollar dentures

Tyrannosaurus Debt