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Politics : Clinton's Scandals: Is this corruption the worst ever? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: anyer who wrote (2166)	8/19/1998 11:23:00 PM
From: Les H	Respond to of 13994

Agreed. The deficits also started exploding by the late 70's because the Social Security surplus' was used up. Recall the 1981 tax increase to attempt to save Social Security. The Democratic congress of the 70's deserve the lion share of the blame. During the 70's before the indexing to the CPI, Social Security benefits were being increased 10-20% per year. They were using Social Security to buy the elderly vote and pay for Vietnam and whatever else. In the 1980's, they started indexing the tax brackets on an annual basis according to the CPI. This contributed to the exploding deficits in the late 1980's and 1990's in addition to the spending that you mention. In the early 90's, the Recession and the S&L Bailout ballooned the shortfall. Clinton arrived after the end of both events.

To: anyer who wrote (2166)	8/20/1998 12:15:00 AM
From: Mo Chips	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 13994

<<Years of Republican overspending caused the deficit. Wrong!>> Take a look at the link below from the Office of Management and Budget. Specifically this text.... "Nevertheless, the deficits before 1981 paled in comparison to what followed. That year, the Government cut income tax rates and greatly increased defense spending, but it did not cut non-defense programs enough to make up the difference. Also, the recession of the early 1980s reduced Federal revenues, increased Federal outlays for unemployment insurance and similar programs that are closely tied to economic conditions, and forced the Government to pay interest on more national debt at a time when interest rates were high. As a result, the deficit soared." access.gpo.gov Humm, let me think here, around '81 wasn't a republican in the White House? And wasn't that same republican touting some B.S. about cutting taxes to yeild higher tax receipts? He was a believer in the "Laffer Curve" (Lower tax rate to increase inflows) I believe it certainly is "Laughable" to expect this... Unfortunately we are now sitting on trillions of debt. My big complaint is it is far to easy for people to use the cliche of tax and spend liberals. Both parties share some blame, but I think the failed economic policies of Reagan and Bush significantly contributed to the problem. So to restate, Republican driven tax cuts followed by Republican driven spending increases on defense unsupported by subsequent reduction in other outlays caused the explosion of the deficit under a Republican controlled white house. Mo