U.S. Federal Deficits, Presidents, and Congress Stephen Bloch Last update: figures from 6/30/2011
Also shifted tables around, adding new tables 1 and 2, April 2011 I ran across a Web site maintained by the Department of the Treasury, listing the U.S. National Debt year by year since 1791. The numbers by themselves are too big to be meaningful, so I put them into a spreadsheet to see if I could extract any interesting trends. Here's what I did:
- Tabulated the national debt by year, back to 1911. (I originally went only back to my birth, in 1964, but then expanded the chart to 1911, stopping there because I ran out of CPI data.)
- Subtracted each year's debt from the next year's, as a measure of one-year federal deficit (including interest paid).
- In 1976, the reporting date shifted by 3 months, so that "year" was actually 15 months long; I multiplied the deficit in this year by 4/5 to give an annualized figure.
- Since deficits are in the news as of July 2011, I wanted to present the best data I have on fiscal 2010-2011, even though that fiscal year isn't over yet. I initially looked at the June 30, 2011 numbers (3/4 of a fiscal year), but they came after six weeks of accounting tricks to keep the debt under the as-yet-un-raised debt ceiling; using those numbers would make the 2010-2011 deficit look much smaller than it really is. So to get something more realistic, I used the March 31, 2011 debt numbers (half a fiscal year, before the accounting tricks) and multiplied the deficit by 2 to get an annualized figure.
- Adjusted this annualized deficit by the annual Consumer Price Index to give one-year federal deficits in constant (1983) dollars.
- Annotated each year by the party of the President and the party controlling each house of Congress. Since Congressional terms start in early January, Presidential terms in late January, and fiscal years in October (since 1977) or July (before then), many years show a transition from one party to another.
- Also annotated each year with the top-bracket individual marginal Federal income tax rate for returns filed that year (i.e. on the previous year's income), drawn from The Tax Foundation. This is an oversimplification, of course, since it doesn't say where that top tax bracket starts: for example, in 1992 the top tax bracket was 31% on income above $86,500, and in 1993 it was 39.6% on income above $250,000, but somebody who earned $125,000 in each of those two years would have seen almost no change. More dramatically, in 1941 it was 81% on income above $5 million, and in 1942 it was 88% on income above $200,000; somebody earning $250,000 in both years would have seen a marginal tax rate rise not from 81% to 88% but rather from 71% to 88%.
Note that it's hard to ascribe cause and effect here: for example, when a war starts, tax rates and deficits usually both go up, but it would be hard to claim that one is because of the other; in fact, both are because of the cost of the war.
For several years, visitors to this Web page have been asking me about Congress, and I've finally put some of that information into Table 1. I haven't done much analysis of the Congressional data yet: I'd like to see whether party control of the Senate makes a consistent difference, whether party control of the House makes a consistent difference, whether the margin of control (e.g. 51% as opposed to 69%) makes a consistent difference, whether having the House and Senate controlled by the same party makes a consistent difference, whether having one or both houses of Congress controlled by the same party as the President makes a consistent difference, etc. But the data are there: perhaps somebody else will do that analysis for me :-)
Table 1: Deficit by year, corrected for inflation These are the data from which all of the following tables are drawn, organized by year so you can draw your own conclusions about Presidents, Congresses, tax rates, etc.
The "Deficit" (seventh) column is computed, in most cases, by subtracting one year's public debt from the next's. (Fiscal 1976-1977 was fifteen months long, so that figure has been adjusted to be comparable. Likewise, I have data for the first six months of fiscal 2010-2011, so that figure has been adjusted to be comparable.) This number is then adjusted by the Consumer Price Index to produce a figure in 1983 dollars, which appears both textually and graphically in the last column.
Fiscal year President's party Senate majority party House majority party Top-bracket marginal income tax rate Final Public debt
(millions) Deficit
(millions) Deficit in millions of 1983 dollars ($=10 billion) 10/2010-3/2011DDDR35%$14,270,115$1,416,983$633,719
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ 10/2009-9/2010DDD35%$13,561,623$1,651,794$757,703
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ 10/2008-9/2009RDDD35%$11,909,829$1,885,104$878,684
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ 10/2007-9/2008RDD35%$10,024,724$1,017,071$472,390
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ 10/2006-9/2007RRDRD35%$9,007,653$500,679$241,475
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ 10/2005-9/2006RRR35%$8,506,973$574,264$284,853
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ 10/2004-9/2005RRR35%$7,932,709$553,656$283,490
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ 10/2003-9/2004RRR35%$7,379,052$595,821$315,416
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ 10/2002-9/2003RDRR38.6%$6,783,231$554,995$301,627
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ 10/2001-9/2002RDR39.1%$6,228,235$420,772$233,892
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ 10/2000-9/2001DRRDR39.6%$5,807,463$133,285$75,259
$$$$$$$ 10/1999-9/2000DRR39.6%$5,674,178$17,907$10,399
$ 10/1998-9/1999DRR39.6%$5,656,270$130,077$78,077
$$$$$$$$ 10/1997-9/1998DRR39.6%$5,526,193$113,046$69,353
$$$$$$$ 10/1996-9/1997DRR39.6%$5,413,146$188,335$117,342
$$$$$$$$$$$$ 10/1995-9/1996DRR39.6%$5,224,810$250,828$159,864
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ 10/1994-9/1995DDRDR39.6%$4,973,982$281,232$184,536
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ 10/1993-9/1994DDD39.6%$4,692,749$281,261$189,784
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ 10/1992-9/1993RDDD31%$4,411,488$346,868$240,047
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ 10/1991-9/1992RDD31%$4,064,620$399,317$284,616
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ 10/1990-9/1991RDD28%$3,665,303$431,989$317,173
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ 10/1989-9/1990RDD28%$3,233,313$375,882$287,591
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ 10/1988-9/1989RDD28%$2,857,430$255,093$205,720
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ 10/1987-9/1988RDD38.5%$2,602,337$252,060$213,069
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ 10/1986-9/1987RRDD50%$2,350,276$224,974$198,040
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ 10/1985-9/1986RRD50%$2,125,302$302,199$283,489
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ 10/1984-9/1985RRRD50%$1,823,103$250,837$233,119
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ 10/1983-9/1984RRR50%$1,572,266$195,056$187,734
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ 10/1982-9/1983RRDR50%$1,377,210$235,176$236,120
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ 10/1981-9/1982RRD70%$1,142,034$144,179$149,408
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ 10/1980-9/1981DRDRD70%$997,855$90,154$99,179
$$$$$$$$$$ 10/1979-9/1980DDD70%$907,701$81,182$98,521
$$$$$$$$$$ 10/1978-9/1979DDD70%$826,519$54,975$75,723
$$$$$$$$ 10/1977-9/1978DDD70%$771,544$72,704$111,509
$$$$$$$$$$$ 7/1976-9/1977RDDD70%$698,840$62,725$103,507
$$$$$$$$$$ 7/1975-6/1976RDD70%$620,433$87,244$153,328
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ 7/1974-6/1975RDD70%$533,189$58,129$108,046
$$$$$$$$$$$ 7/1973-6/1974RDD70%$475,059$16,918$34,316
$$$ 7/1972-6/1973RDD70%$458,141$30,881$69,552
$$$$$$$ 7/1971-6/1972RDD70%$427,260$29,130$69,690
$$$$$$$ 7/1970-6/1971RDD70%$398,129$27,211$67,187
$$$$$$$ 7/1969-6/1970RDD70%$370,918$17,198$44,325
$$$$ 7/1968-6/1969DRDD70%$353,720$6,141$16,735
$$ 7/1967-6/1968DDD70%$347,578$21,357$61,372
$$$$$$ 7/1966-6/1967DDD70%$326,220$6,313$18,903
$$ 7/1965-6/1966DDD70%$319,907$2,633$8,127
$ 7/1964-6/1965DDD77%$317,273$5,560$17,653
$$ 7/1963-6/1964DDD91%$311,712$5,853$18,881
$$ 7/1962-6/1963DDD91%$305,859$7,658$25,028
$$$ 7/1961-6/1962DDD91%$298,200$9,229$30,562
$$$ 7/1960-6/1961RDDD91%$288,970$2,640$8,830
$ 7/1959-6/1960RDD91%$286,330$1,624$5,489
$ 7/1958-6/1959RDD91%$284,705$8,362$28,737
$$$ 7/1957-6/1958RDD91%$276,343$5,816$20,124
$$ 7/1956-6/1957RDD91%$270,527-$2,223-$7,913$
7/1955-6/1956RDD91%$272,750-$1,623-$5,968$
7/1954-6/1955RRDRD91%$274,374$3,114$11,621
$ 7/1953-6/1954RRR92%$271,259$5,188$19,288
$$ 7/1952-6/1953DRDRDR92%$266,071$6,965$26,089
$$$ 7/1951-6/1952DDD91%$259,105$3,883$14,653
$ 7/1950-6/1951DDD91%$255,221-$2,135-$8,212$
7/1949-6/1950DDD91%$257,357$4,586$19,033
$$ 7/1948-6/1949DRDRD91%$252,770$478$2,008
7/1947-6/1948DRR91%$252,292-$5,994-$24,871$$
7/1946-6/1947DDRDR91%$258,286-$11,135-$49,935$$$$$
7/1945-6/1946DDD94%$269,422$10,739$55,076
$$$$$$ 7/1944-6/1945DDD94%$258,682$57,678$320,437
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ 7/1943-6/1944DDD88%$201,003$64,307$365,382
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ 7/1942-6/1943DDD88%$136,696$64,273$371,523
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ 7/1941-6/1942DDD81%$72,422$23,461$143,932
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ 7/1940-6/1941DDD79%$48,961$5,993$40,774
$$$$ 7/1939-6/1940DDD79%$42,967$2,527$18,057
$$ 7/1938-6/1939DDD79%$40,439$3,274$23,559
$$ 7/1937-6/1938DDD79%$37,164$740$5,249
$ 7/1936-6/1937DDD79%$36,424$2,646$18,375
$$ 7/1935-6/1936DDD63%$33,778$5,077$36,529
$$$$ 7/1934-6/1935DDD63%$28,700$1,647$12,027
$ 7/1933-6/1934DDD63%$27,053$4,514$33,690
$$$ 7/1932-6/1933RDRDD63%$22,538$3,051$23,474
$$ 7/1931-6/1932RRD25%$19,487$2,685$19,603
$$ 7/1930-6/1931RRRD25%$16,801$615$4,052
7/1929-6/1930RRR25%$16,185-$745-$4,465
7/1928-6/1929RRR25%$16,931-$673-$3,936
7/1927-6/1928RRR25%$17,604-$907-$5,307$
7/1926-6/1927RRR25%$18,511-$1,131-$6,501$
7/1925-6/1926RRR25%$19,643-$872-$4,932
7/1924-6/1925RRR46%$20,516-$734-$4,197
7/1923-6/1924RRR58%$21,250-$1,098-$6,426$
7/1922-6/1923RRR58%$22,349-$613-$3,588
7/1921-6/1922RRR73%$22,963-$1,014-$6,036$
7/1920-6/1921DRRR73%$23,977-$1,975-$11,033$
7/1919-6/1920DRR73%$25,952-$1,438-$7,192$
7/1918-6/1919DDRDR77%$27,390$12,798$73,981
$$$$$$$ 7/1917-6/1918DDD67%$14,592$8,874$58,770
$$$$$$ 7/1916-6/1917DDD15%$5,717$2,108$16,472
$$ 7/1915-6/1916DDD7%$3,609$551$5,056
$ 7/1914-6/1915DDD7%$3,058$145$1,441
7/1913-6/1914DDD7%$2,912-$3-$37
7/1912-6/1913DDDno data$2,916$47$483
7/1911-6/1912DDDno data$2,868$102$1,048
7/1910-6/1911DDDno data$2,765no datano data Comments on Table 1: I was somewhat surprised to notice that the 1930's, the era of the New Deal, were a period of fairly small deficits relative to the cost of living; not until the U.S. joined World War II did the deficits explode. On the other hand, these "fairly small deficits" followed a decade of budget surpluses in the roaring 1920's.
The single best predictor of deficits for most of the century has been war. There's a bulge in the graph for World War I, another for World War II, then a long low-grade deficit corresponding to the Korean and Vietnam wars, and of course the expense of G. H. W. Bush's invasion of Iraq, and G. W. Bush's invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. But starting in the 1970's, it becomes harder to see a connection between war and deficits: permanent budget deficits became a way of life, regardless of whether there was a war going on.
Table 2: The Top Ten Years I have in my hand a copy of tonight's Top Ten list....
- 2008-2009, at $879 billion (transition from G. W. Bush to B. H. Obama)
- 2009-2010, at $758 billion (B. H. Obama)
- 2010-2011 (extrapolated), at $634 billion (B. H. Obama)
- 2007-2008, at $472 billion (G. W. Bush)
- 1942-1943, at $372 billion (F. D. Roosevelt)
- 1943-1944, at $365 billion (F. D. Roosevelt)
- 1944-1945, at $320 billion (transition from F. D. Roosevelt to H. S. Truman)
- 1990-1991, at $317 billion (G. H. W. Bush)
- 2003-2004, at $315 billion (G. W. Bush)
- 2002-2003, at $302 billion (G. W. Bush)
All of those figures are inflation-adjusted, of course. Analyses by President I then grouped the data by Presidential administration. I wasn't certain how to count those years in which there's a change of administration, but it seemed to me that the budget in the fiscal year that spans a Presidential election and inauguration is mostly under the control of the previous President and Congress, so I count that fiscal year as the last year of the previous administration. This is usually a fair assumption, because most government programs take a while to start, and last for multiple years. Fiscal 2008-2009 is perhaps an exception: both the outgoing and incoming Presidents enacted expensive economic-stimulus programs that were written to take effect immediately. Accordingly, in the following tables, I've given George W. Bush two rows in the table: one consistent with my treatment of all other Presidents, and one counting only his first seven years, ending with the figures of September 2008, by which time a recession had started but the government measures to deal with it hadn't been enacted yet.
After deciding on those conventions, there were still several different reasonable ways to look at the data.
How much did the annual deficit shrink or grow? I subtract the deficit in a President's first year from the deficit in the year after that President stepped down (or, in the case of the current President, from the most recent deficit figures I have). This change in deficit is then divided by the number of years it took to achieve it.
Table 3: Average change in annual deficit President political party change in deficit years in office avg. change in deficit avg. change in deficit ($ = 2billion) B.H.Obama
(extrapolated) Democrat -$244,965,849,702 2 ( note) -$122,482,924,851 $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ B.H.Obama
(definite) Democrat -$120,981,163,033 1 -$120,981,163,033 $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ G.W.Bush Republican $803,424,990,821 8 $100,428,123,853 $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ G.W.Bush
first 7 years
(see comment above) Republican $397,130,927,169 7 $56,732,989,596 $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ W.J.Clinton Democrat -$164,787,361,848 8 -$20,598,420,231 $$$$$$$$$$ G.H.W.Bush Republican $34,326,854,936 4 $8,581,713,734 $$$$ R.Reagan Republican $106,541,043,476 8 $13,317,630,435 $$$$$$$ J.Carter Democrat -$4,328,272,827 4 -$1,082,068,207 $ G.Ford Republican $69,190,733,924 3 $34,595,366,962 $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ R.M.Nixon Republican $17,581,577,773 5 $2,930,262,962 $ L.B.Johnson Democrat -$2,146,225,006 5 -$429,245,001 J.F.Kennedy Democrat $10,051,478,109 3 $3,350,492,703 $$ D.D.Eisenhower Republican -$17,259,422,929 8 -$2,157,427,866 $ H.S.Truman Democrat -$294,348,329,939 8 -$36,793,541,242 $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ F.D.Roosevelt Democrat $296,963,393,318 12 $24,746,949,443 $$$$$$$$$$$$ H.Hoover Republican $27,411,255,199 4 $6,852,813,799 $$$ C.Coolidge Republican -$348,130,844 6 -$58,021,807 W.G.Harding Republican $7,444,813,407 2 $3,722,406,703 $$ W.Wilson Democrat -$11,516,694,067 8 -$1,439,586,758 $ Note: the previous column is already extrapolated to two years, so I divided by 2 rather than 1.5 Comments on Table 3: The first seven years of the G.W. Bush presidency increased the deficit by almost twice as much as the 32 years from JFK through G.H.W.Bush combined, and somewhat more than the 24 years from Harding through FDR combined (in inflation-adjusted dollars).
If one includes fiscal year 2008-2009 as part of the G.W. Bush administration (consistent with my treatment of all other administrations), that administration oversaw 3.5 times as much increase in Federal budget deficits as Presidents Kennedy through G.H.W.Bush put together.
Obviously, many of the reasons a deficit grows or shrinks are beyond the President's control: Congress, the economy, the beginning or ending of a war, the beginning or ending of a recession, etc. For example, the beginning of World War II can be blamed for much of FDR's increase in the deficit, just as the end of World War II and the start of the post-war economic boom can be credited for much of Truman's matching decrease. I'm not sure what happened to Ford: he faced an economic recession, but so have many Presidents.
At least in my lifetime, Republican Presidents have placed high priority on cutting taxes, and placed lower priority on (or had less success at) cutting spending. Democratic Presidents have perhaps had equal success at cutting spending (I haven't researched those numbers), but have not been bound by any promises to cut taxes.
There may be other factors at work, e.g. the American people tend to elect a Democrat when things are at their worst and about to improve anyway, or something like that. Read into the numbers what you will.
How much debt was accumulated over a President's term(s)? The previous approach, looking only at starting and ending deficits, doesn't distinguish between a President who oversees initially increasing deficits, then decreasing at the end (like Reagan) and a President who oversees initially decreasing deficits, then increasing at the end (like Carter), even though the former racks up more of a debt. So I computed the average annual deficit over a President's term(s). (Note: I computed this as an average of CPI-adjusted annual deficits, rather than as the increase in national debt divided by the number of years.)
Table 4: Average annual deficit President political party total accumulated debt years in office average annual deficit avg. deficit ($ = 10billion) B.H.Obama
(extrapolated) Democrat $1,391,422,677,900 2 ( note) $695,711,338,950 $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ B.H.Obama
(definite) Democrat $757,703,682,284 1 $757,703,682,284 $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ G.W.Bush Republican $3,011,831,280,329 8 $376,478,910,041 $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ G.W.Bush
first 7 years
(see comment above) Republican $2,133,146,435,012 7 $304,735,205,002 $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ W.J.Clinton Democrat $884,619,423,570 8 $110,577,427,946 $$$$$$$$$$$ G.H.W.Bush Republican $1,129,428,976,886 4 $282,357,244,222 $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ R.Reagan Republican $1,706,702,601,850 8 $213,337,825,231 $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ J.Carter Democrat $384,933,505,542 4 $96,233,376,385 $$$$$$$$$$ G.Ford Republican $364,883,048,416 3 $121,627,682,805 $$$$$$$$$$$$ R.M.Nixon Republican $285,073,350,093 6 $57,014,670,019 $$$$$$ L.B.Johnson Democrat $122,792,151,218 5 $24,558,430,244 $$ J.F.Kennedy Democrat $74,472,825,986 3 $24,824,275,329 $$ D.D.Eisenhower Republican $106,299,577,577 8 $11,811,064,175 $ H.S.Truman Democrat $352,278,468,719 8 $39,364,274,302 $$$$ F.D.Roosevelt Democrat $1,389,540,258,709 12 $115,795,021,559 $$$$$$$$$$$$ H.Hoover Republican $42,664,892,779 4 $10,666,223,195 $ C.Coolidge Republican -$31,302,513,411 6 -$5,217,085,568 $ W.G.Harding Republican -$9,624,862,920 2 -$4,812,431,460 W.Wilson Democrat $137,460,025,232 8 $17,182,503,154 $$ Comments on Table 4: Again, Republican Presidents seem to rack up the big debts, at least in my lifetime. Democratic Presidents tend to be "troughs" in the above graph, relative to their Republican successors and predecessors. On the other hand, the only two Presidents in this table to actually run an average surplus (in the Roaring Twenties) were both Republicans, and the Obama administration, in its first two fiscal years, was still running enormous deficits (albeit smaller than the previous fiscal year; see table 1).
The first seven years of G.W. Bush accrued more total debt than eight years of Reagan, and half again as much as twelve years of FDR. If you include 2008-2009, the 8-year G.W. Bush administration accrued almost as much total debt as the 8-year Reagan administration and the 12-year FDR administration combined. The biggest accrued-debt-per-year figures are associated with B.H. Obama, G.W. Bush, G.H.W. Bush, Ronald Reagan, Gerald Ford, FDR, Bill Clinton, and Jimmy Carter, in that order.
How does the accumulated debt compare with what it would have been with no change? Since many of the items in the budget are multi-year commitments with considerable inertia (most obviously, interest on the national debt!), I recomputed the previous numbers, subtracting the annual deficit in each President's first year. In other words, this table compares how much debt was actually accumulated with how much would have been accumulated if deficits had continued as they were when the President took office.
Table 5: Average deficit minus first-year deficit President political party average deficit
(from prev. table) deficit in first year corrected average deficit corrected avg. deficit ($ = 10billion) B.H.Obama
(extrapolated) Democrat $695,711,338,950 $878,684,845,318 -$182,973,506,368 $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ B.H.Obama
(definite) Democrat $757,703,682,284 $878,684,845,318 -$120,981,163,033 $$$$$$$$$$$$ G.W.Bush Republican $376,478,910,041 $75,259,854,496 $301,219,055,545 $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ G.W.Bush
first 7 years
(see comment above) Republican $304,735,205,002 $75,259,854,496 $229,475,350,505 $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ W.J.Clinton Democrat $110,577,427,946 $240,047,216,344 -$129,469,788,398 $$$$$$$$$$$$$ G.H.W.Bush Republican $282,357,244,222 $205,720,361,408 $76,636,882,813 $$$$$$$$ R.Reagan Republican $213,337,825,231 $99,179,317,932 $114,158,507,300 $$$$$$$$$$$ J.Carter Democrat $96,233,376,385 $103,507,590,759 -$7,274,214,374 $ G.Ford Republican $121,627,682,805 $34,316,856,835 $87,310,825,971 $$$$$$$$$ R.M.Nixon Republican $57,014,670,019 $16,735,279,061 $40,279,390,957 $$$$ L.B.Johnson Democrat $24,558,430,244 $18,881,504,067 $5,676,926,176 $ J.F.Kennedy Democrat $24,824,275,329 $5,489,370,845 $19,334,904,483 $$ D.D.Eisenhower Republican $11,811,064,175 $14,653,592,342 -$2,842,528,166
H.S.Truman Democrat $39,364,274,302 $365,382,368,700 -$326,018,094,398 $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ F.D.Roosevelt Democrat $115,795,021,559 $23,474,385,508 $92,320,636,051 $$$$$$$$$ H.Hoover Republican $10,666,223,195 -$3,936,869,692 $14,603,092,887 $ C.Coolidge Republican -$5,217,085,568 -$3,588,738,848 -$1,628,346,721 W.G.Harding Republican -$4,812,431,460 -$11,033,552,255 $6,221,120,795 $ W.Wilson Democrat $17,182,503,154 $483,141,813 $16,699,361,341 $$ Comments on Table 5: Again, Truman is an outlier: he took office in the middle of World War II, which immediately followed the Great Depression. The Federal government was running an enormous annual deficit in his first year, so it would have been remarkable if it hadn't decreased during his term. FDR presided over most of the Great Depression, initiated many expensive government programs to fight it, and presided over the beginning of World War II.
Likewise, Obama took office in the middle of, by far, the biggest-deficit year in history, dealing with two wars and the most severe recession since the 1930's; it would have been remarkable if the deficit hadn't decreased during his term. |
