Was there EVER a deficit higher than any of the Bush* years?

[Winterblues]

I know that year after year he had Record Deficit but a couple of years the deficit was not considered a Record but still I believe them to be higher than any other Deficit before him. Am I wrong in this belief?

[opihimoimoi]

1. 1/20/01...National DEBT est 5.5 Trillion.....1/20/08 National Debt 10.5 Trill... Bush over spent so

much to gain so little....

[daninthemoon]

2. The oil and bank guys got plenty. and don't forget haliburton

it's simple math to me: record defecits equals record profits for oil companies. Like moving money from one hand to the other. From the masses to the elite mega rich.

[kentuck]

4. His father left a deficit of $290 billion and it took Clinton 6 years...

to balance that deficit. Bush Jr left a deficit of $1.2 trillion! How long will it take to balance that?

[Statistical]

3. It depends...

it actual dollars no however that is the least useful way to look at things due to inflation and GDP.

Adjust for inflation Reagan had higher deficit. $1T was worth more in the 80s then it is today.

As a percentage of GDP the highest deficit was during and shortly after WWII.

[gratuitous]

5. Not to hear Republicans tell it

They've suddenly discovered that they're the party of fiscal responsibility after eight years of running through the Treasury like a drunken frat boy trust fund baby.

Hey!

[wiggs]

6. Wasn't Iraq off the books before? Didn't Obama include it in his budget? nt

[jody]

7. A useful summary by president at the link below.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_debt_by_U.S._presidential_terms

[Statistical]

9. The sad thing is both parties are so addicted to debt spending.

Clinton's second term was the best recent term in terms of fiscal restraint and even in that term the debt rose.

One interesting stat:


Democratic Republican
Spending 9.9% 12.1%
Debt 4.2% 36.4%
GDP 12.6% 10.7%

So both parties spend more than they tax however look Democrats expanded spending 10% while raising the debt "only" 4%. The other 6% likely coming from tax increases. Republicans spend even more and pay even less, 12% more spending (20% more than Democrats) and due to tax cuts raise the debt 36%.

Now if it helped the economy it might be worth it. Wait GDP grew an average 12% under Democrats and only 10% under Republicans.

So despite spending more, and paying less, and racking up massive deficits the economy grew less.

[jody]

13. One can operate an engine at rpm in the red for a short time but very long and it will fail. n/t

[wiggs]

17. can you post link of source for those stats? Thanks. nt

[Statistical]

18. They were in jody post

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_debt_by_U.S._presidential_terms

Chart near the bottom has breakdown by president and total by party.

[lpbk2713]

8. Shit-for-Brains was a disaster.

It's ironic that Hurricane Katrina happened on Smirky's watch.

It was a supreme metaphor for his entire term of (stolen) office.

[kentuck]

10. This graph doesn't include the $700 billion that Bush borrowed...

for the TARP bailout. His final deficit was about $1.2 trillion. That is what Barack Obama inherited.

[lpbk2713]

11. True

It only shows up to 2007. It got worse after that when Smirky was deep in Lame Duck Mode.

I need to update my PhotoBucket library.


:thumbsup: :hi: :thumbsup:

[Statistical]

16. One point on contention....

you don't inherite a deficit you inherit the debt.

Each year revenue - spending = surplus or deficit.

The accumulated deficits = the national debt.

Obama has the ability to sign any budget he wants. So if Obama cut the military budget by $500B he would have a much smaller deficit this year.

The national debt created by Bush and previous pres will still remain though.

[lefthandedlefty]

12. When Raygun took office in 1981

The national debt was one trillion dolars and it took us 225 years to get to that point.It took just 27 years for the debt to reach 12 trillion.What I don`t understand is we don`t have one single thing to show for it.Our whole infrastructure is falling apart and we keep spending more every year on the military and law enforcement while cutting spending on stuff we really need.

[opihimoimoi]

14. The Big Picture shows The GOP added the most damage/debt to the Nat Equation

They fail to mention this

[jody]

15. Agree. IMO the past 28 years have seen corporatists control both parties & pass laws that let them

loot and pillage the United States while expanding their control and domination of the world financial market under the protection of the U.S. Foreign Legion aka Department of Defense.

[HOLOS]

19. no