It's impolite to say that George W. Bush is the most fiscally irresponsible president in U.S. history, but it would be dishonest to pretend otherwise.
I'm SURE a fair-minded person like yourself won't mind if we look at that statement in the light of the facts, right? I mean, we all are truthseekers and would not DREAM of letting partisanship cloud our vision, correct?
Here's the source of those facts
w3.access.gpo.gov
Now what I'm going to compute is this:
100*(Total Surplus or Deficit)/(Total Receipts)
for the period from 1789 to 2003.
The maximum deficit was (stand by for this!) -260% of receipts! In 1919. Who was president? Woodrow Wilson, a Democrat.
But let's look at recent years. The worst deficits was -34% of receipts in 1983. Reagan was President. He was racing the Soviets. They lost. Much to your chagrin.
What are George Bush's numbers? 2001: 6.4%. 2002: -8.5%. 2003 (estimated): -16.6%.
What were Clinton's numbers from 1993 to 2000? -22.1%, -16.1%, -12.1%, -7.4%, -1.4%, +4%, 6.9%, 11.7%.
What's the average surplus/deficit over US history? -22.2%.
Know something? Bush doesn't look at all bad. In spite of liberal screaming. |
