Most of the national debt is due to Republican shell games. They want to decrease the size and effect of government, so they first enact high tax cuts favoring the wealthy. Then that produces substantial national debt. It also negatively affects the effectiveness o government programs an services. Then they say, "See, we told you that big government does not work, and they scream for great cuts in human service programs to produce the artificial debt that they produced. It is both amazing and disheartening that many people fall for that crap.