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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH
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To: Wayners who wrote (768649)2/18/2009 5:20:09 PM
From: DuckTapeSunroof  Read Replies (2) of 769667
 
Excellent chart!

I notice that it's figures are taken from the exact same official source that I took mine when I posted the "REAL national debt" numbers for every post WW II Presidency --- measured as the "percentage of GNP":

Source: Deficits from FY 2009 Historical Tables, Budget of the United States Government, Table 1.2.

(There appear to be some very slight differences between what Heritage calculated, and I... but almost immaterial they are so small.)

Same as I (although Heritage failed to post the very good Truman and Eisenhower records that I did...) their chart makes EXTREMELY CLEAR that the *WORST* federal deficits were rung-up by: Reagan, Bush I, Ford, and Bush II.... with Bill Clinton posting the best deficit record since the 1950s:



Average Federal Deficit as a Percentage of GDP, by Administration

(Truman and Eisenhower actually net paid down deficits... while Clinton nearly did, posting only a tiny 0.1 increase over his full eight years. But Reagan and Bush I and Ford and Bush II were the biggest budget-busters of all.)

PS --- Bush II's deficit numbers are likely to inch a little higher still... I understand that his last year's number (2008) is still inferred, not yet final. Likely to be revised upward when final revisions are made.

author.heritage.org
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