Dear Scumbria:
The Debt the Democrats in the House and Senate at the time piled up you mean. It's funny, when the Republicans hold both houses, the debt goes down, and when they don't the debt goes up. By your token, President George Bush started it, when he got the Democrats in Congress to agree to rein in spending. But, he got the hook for getting Congress to restrain spending for the stupid Democrat's tax hike.
Clinton did not restore fiscal sanity. "There are budget deficits as far as the eye can see" Clinton did not create budget surpluses. First, the people with their industrious hard work did. Then came Congress finally reducing the growth of spending by about 1 to 2%. Five years of that simple restraint, led to the Budget surpluses we enjoy today. Those surpluses allowed the FED to slow interest rate hikes and increase rate reductions which, of course, reduce expenditures and thus increase surpluses (Although I do agree with your tenet that the FED is overly cautious). As long as that simple restraint prevails, the economy, productivity, and our standard of living will be improving for "the foreseeable future". If anyone can lay claim to the restore fiscal responsibility to Washington, it is Newt Gingrich, the Republicans in the House and Senate, and George Herbert Bush.
Pete |
