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Politics : Liberalism: Do You Agree We've Had Enough of It? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Kenneth E. Phillipps who wrote (59299)	2/13/2009 11:55:24 AM
From: TimF	4 Recommendations Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 224755

It could be denied, depending on how you count the deficit. If you treat SS as something entirely separate from the government, the debt to SS increased, so the deficit was never eliminated. OTOH - The deficit at least shrunk by a lot. And I'd go further, I don't think the SS fund is properly considered something separate from the government so I'd say the deficit was eliminated. But 1 - While the deficit as such was eliminated the increasing future obligation for SS and Medicare where real. 2 - There is a question about how much credit Clinton should get. I won't deny him any credit, but I certainly wouldn't give him all the credit. A - The policy changes under Reagan helped Clinton. Reducing the top rate from 70%, while simplifying taxes, helped the economy long term. Building up our military and generally challenging the USSR, esp. in Afghanistan, helped end the cold war, which allowed Clinton to reduce military expenditures. B - The explosion of growth of the internet and the general tech bubble that occurred at that time, helped create extra federal revenue, but wasn't caused by Clinton. C - Clinton's early budget projections where for increased federal spending and continued deficits. That changed when the Republican congress was elected. D - We could have contained the growth of the federal government even further, but Clinton fought off this idea when it was pushed by the Gingrich congress. (Now both Republicans and Democrats are firmly committed to increasing spending hand over fist, and at least part of that commitment on the Republican end goes back to their defeat by Clinton during the whole confrontation about the so called shutting down of the government, when congress and Clinton fought over the budget.)