I Have A Question For Republicans

[Wyatt earp]

When Bill Clinton left a balanced budget with surpluses in line to completely eliminate the national debt by 2012, why did George W. Bush slash tax rates for the rich and double the debt from $5.7 trillion to nearly $12 trillion?

The Republicans in the House balanced the Budget when clinton didn't even bother to try........

When Bush came into office the economy was in a recession started by bill clinton's tax and spend policies, and then the housing disiaster was created by bill cliinton's policies further wrecking the economy.....the 9/11 happened.......you know....they don't teach that anymore but there was a massive terror attack on the U.S. that killed 3,000 Americans and drove the economy into the crapper............look it up......it actually happened....

9-11 caused a short term recession. Bush's disaster capitalism caused the 2007 great recession.

Bush had 7 years and caused a great recession. Obama had 7 years of straight job creation. 79 months in a row!

Bull shit ignorant one it started in 1999.


.

 

[sealybobo]

When Bill Clinton left a balanced budget with surpluses in line to completely eliminate the national debt by 2012, why did George W. Bush slash tax rates for the rich and double the debt from $5.7 trillion to nearly $12 trillion?

The Republicans in the House balanced the Budget when clinton didn't even bother to try........

When Bush came into office the economy was in a recession started by bill clinton's tax and spend policies, and then the housing disiaster was created by bill cliinton's policies further wrecking the economy.....the 9/11 happened.......you know....they don't teach that anymore but there was a massive terror attack on the U.S. that killed 3,000 Americans and drove the economy into the crapper............look it up......it actually happened....

9-11 caused a short term recession. Bush's disaster capitalism caused the 2007 great recession.

Bush had 7 years and caused a great recession. Obama had 7 years of straight job creation. 79 months in a row!

Bull shit ignorant one it started in 1999.


.

It's quite obvious you guys hold Democrats up to a much higher standard.

 

[Wyatt earp]

When Bill Clinton left a balanced budget with surpluses in line to completely eliminate the national debt by 2012, why did George W. Bush slash tax rates for the rich and double the debt from $5.7 trillion to nearly $12 trillion?

The Republicans in the House balanced the Budget when clinton didn't even bother to try........

When Bush came into office the economy was in a recession started by bill clinton's tax and spend policies, and then the housing disiaster was created by bill cliinton's policies further wrecking the economy.....the 9/11 happened.......you know....they don't teach that anymore but there was a massive terror attack on the U.S. that killed 3,000 Americans and drove the economy into the crapper............look it up......it actually happened....

9-11 caused a short term recession. Bush's disaster capitalism caused the 2007 great recession.

Bush had 7 years and caused a great recession. Obama had 7 years of straight job creation. 79 months in a row!

Bull shit ignorant one it started in 1999.


.

It's quite obvious you guys hold Democrats up to a much higher standard.

No , just don't like lies.

Besides with those recessions both party's all have had a hand in it

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[Manonthestreet]

How bout starting with ...where the hell is all the money we collecting in taxes now going

 

[eddiew]

Clinton never left a surplus....end of thread.

BULL SHIT Republican style

 

[eddiew]

When Bill Clinton left a balanced budget with surpluses in line to completely eliminate the national debt by 2012, why did George W. Bush slash tax rates for the rich and double the debt from $5.7 trillion to nearly $12 trillion?

there was no surplus, the balanced budget was set up by Newt and bubba reluctantly agreed. then 9/11 happened. the debt was 10.6 T when obozo took over, it will be over 21 T when he leaves, he will have added more debt than all previous presidents combined. If you want to talk about debt creation, lets talk about Obama's debt.

No surplus ? So where did all those checks to everyone come from and all those paid for tax cuts to billionaires?

 

[blackhawk]

The national debt rose under Bill Clinton ever year he was in office just as it has with those before him and since him so the idea that he could have left surpluses to eliminate the national debt by 2012 while at the same time having it increase during his Presidency is more than a little silly.

 

[SassyIrishLass]

The national debt rose under Bill Clinton ever year he was in office just as it has with those before him and since him so the idea that he could have left surpluses to eliminate the national debt by 2012 while at the same time having it increase during his Presidency is more than a little silly.

Facts can be so inconvenient

 

[candycorn]

When Bill Clinton left a balanced budget with surpluses in line to completely eliminate the national debt by 2012, why did George W. Bush slash tax rates for the rich and double the debt from $5.7 trillion to nearly $12 trillion?

there was no surplus, the balanced budget was set up by Newt and bubba reluctantly agreed. then 9/11 happened. the debt was 10.6 T when obozo took over, it will be over 21 T when he leaves, he will have added more debt than all previous presidents combined. If you want to talk about debt creation, lets talk about Obama's debt.

No surplus ? So where did all those checks to everyone come from and all those paid for tax cuts to billionaires?

So let me get this straight….

Bush issued a bunch of checks and we didn’t have a surplus?
Texas “logic” for you.

 

[SassyIrishLass]

When Bill Clinton left a balanced budget with surpluses in line to completely eliminate the national debt by 2012, why did George W. Bush slash tax rates for the rich and double the debt from $5.7 trillion to nearly $12 trillion?

there was no surplus, the balanced budget was set up by Newt and bubba reluctantly agreed. then 9/11 happened. the debt was 10.6 T when obozo took over, it will be over 21 T when he leaves, he will have added more debt than all previous presidents combined. If you want to talk about debt creation, lets talk about Obama's debt.

No surplus ? So where did all those checks to everyone come from and all those paid for tax cuts to billionaires?

So let me get this straight….

Bush issued a bunch of checks and we didn’t have a surplus?
Texas “logic” for you.

No surplus, a link was provided for you spelling it out....read it, comprehend it then shut up

 

[leftwinger]

The tax cuts were designed to griw the GDP, thereby increase FED revenue intake. That was happening until housing bust.....

 

[eddiew]

The national debt rose under Bill Clinton ever year he was in office just as it has with those before him and since him so the idea that he could have left surpluses to eliminate the national debt by 2012 while at the same time having it increase during his Presidency is more than a little silly.

Facts can be so inconvenient

And FACT CHECK SAYS
The Budget and Deficit Under Clinton

• By Brooks Jackson
• Posted on February 3, 2008 | Updated on February 11, 2008

1.3K


Q: During the Clinton administration was the federal budget balanced? Was the federal deficit erased?

A: Yes to both questions, whether you count Social Security or not.


FULL ANSWER

This chart, based on historical figures from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, shows the total deficit or surplus for each fiscal year from 1990 through 2006. Keep in mind that fiscal years begin Oct. 1, so the first year that can be counted as a Clinton year is fiscal 1994. The appropriations bills for fiscal years 1990 through 1993 were signed by Bill Clinton’s predecessor, George H.W. Bush. Fiscal 2002 is the first for which President George W. Bush signed the appropriations bills, and the first to show the effect of his tax cuts.

The Clinton years showed the effects of a large tax increase that Clinton pushed through in his first year, and that Republicans incorrectly claim is the "largest tax increase in history." It fell almost exclusively on upper-income taxpayers. Clinton’s fiscal 1994 budget also contained some spending restraints. An equally if not more powerful influence was the booming economy and huge gains in the stock markets, the so-called dot-com bubble, which brought in hundreds of millions in unanticipated tax revenue from taxes on capital gains and rising salaries.

Clinton’s large budget surpluses also owe much to the Social Security tax on payrolls. Social Security taxes now bring in more than the cost of current benefits, and the "Social Security surplus" makes the total deficit or surplus figures look better than they would if Social Security wasn’t counted. But even if we remove Social Security from the equation, there was a surplus of $1.9 billion in fiscal 1999 and $86.4 billion in fiscal 2000. So any way you count it, the federal budget was balanced and the deficit was erased, if only for a while.

Update, Feb. 11: Some readers wrote to us saying we should have made clear the difference between the federal deficit and the federal debt. A deficit occurs when the government takes in less money than it spends in a given year. The debt is the total amount the government owes at any given time. So the debt goes up in any given year by the amount of the deficit, or it decreases by the amount of any surplus. The debt the government owes to the public decreased for a while under Clinton, but the debt was by no means erased.

Other readers have noted a USA Today story stating that, under an alternative type of accounting, the final four years of the Clinton administration taken together would have shown a deficit. This is based on an annual document called the "Financial Report of the U.S. Government," which reports what the governments books would look like if kept on an accrual basis like those of most corporations, rather than the cash basis that the government has always used. The principal difference is that under accrual accounting the government would book immediately the costs of promises made to pay future benefits to government workers and Social Security and Medicare beneficiaries. But even under accrual accounting, the annual reports showed surpluses of $69.2 billion in fiscal 1998, $76.9 billion in fiscal 1999, and $46 billion for fiscal year 2000. So even if the government had been using that form of accounting the deficit would have been erased for those three years.

– Brooks Jackson

 

[eddiew]

When Bill Clinton left a balanced budget with surpluses in line to completely eliminate the national debt by 2012, why did George W. Bush slash tax rates for the rich and double the debt from $5.7 trillion to nearly $12 trillion?

there was no surplus, the balanced budget was set up by Newt and bubba reluctantly agreed. then 9/11 happened. the debt was 10.6 T when obozo took over, it will be over 21 T when he leaves, he will have added more debt than all previous presidents combined. If you want to talk about debt creation, lets talk about Obama's debt.

No surplus ? So where did all those checks to everyone come from and all those paid for tax cuts to billionaires?

So let me get this straight….

Bush issued a bunch of checks and we didn’t have a surplus?
Texas “logic” for you.

No surplus, a link was provided for you spelling it out....read it, comprehend it then shut up

Check out FACT CHECK

 

[whitehall]

Are you asking why Bill Clinton balanced the budget? He was forced to do so by the republican majority in congress. Clinton sat on a dot-com bubble and milked it for all it was worth until it finally burst and and people went to jail and then democrats got to blame Bush. Enron flurished under Clinton and it was the Bush justice department that sent the crooks to jail. Clinton pardoned the most notorious corporate thief and crook at the time while he was on the FBI "ten most wanted" allegedly in exchange for a couple of bucks "donated" to the Clinton library. A concerned citizen today might ask why the hell Hillary received 1.5 million in exchange for speeches to rich corporate bankers. So far she refuses to release the transcripts.

 

[Freewill]

If you remember, Clinton also left a recession. A dot-com collapse and Y2K. What Bush did was stop the recession without a huge effect on the economy. Something that Obama should have taken note.

We were teetering on recession all 8 years until the great bush recession.

Are these the times you talk about America being great?

You mean we were not in recession until democrats took over congress? That recession?

 

[rightwinger]

There was no real surprise,projected surpluses,then the dot com bubble,and 911.which tax bracket enjoyed the largest percentage cut in their tax bill,which group was that ?

Damn...you guys love to play with numbers while you ignore the 800 lb gorilla in the room

Our wealthy

 

[LordBrownTrout]

When Bill Clinton left a balanced budget with surpluses in line to completely eliminate the national debt by 2012, why did George W. Bush slash tax rates for the rich and double the debt from $5.7 trillion to nearly $12 trillion?

The economy was on a downturn when clinton was leaving office.

I know every gop comeback. This one was predictable.

That's not a comeback. Keep those kneepads on.

 

[nat4900]

Clinton never left a surplus....end of thread.

Bush said he did

He used it as a justification to slash taxes

Very true......(I clearly remember GWB making that statement that because there was a "surplus" drastic tax slashes were justified".......What Clinton DID do is to lower the debt to a relatively small amount of $17 billion.......Conversely, not only did Bush lower taxes as he had promised to his handlers, but continued those tax breaks while incurring $3.2 TRILLION in Cheney's war costs..

 

[kaz]

When Bill Clinton left a balanced budget with surpluses in line to completely eliminate the national debt by 2012, why did George W. Bush slash tax rates for the rich and double the debt from $5.7 trillion to nearly $12 trillion?

If Bill Clinton ran a surplus, why did the national debt go up every year he was President?

Do you think a business could get away with that bogus accounting? Report losing money while telling their shareholders they made a profit?

Nope, people would be going to jail

 

[Rustic]

The national debt rose under Bill Clinton ever year he was in office just as it has with those before him and since him so the idea that he could have left surpluses to eliminate the national debt by 2012 while at the same time having it increase during his Presidency is more than a little silly.

Facts can be so inconvenient

And FACT CHECK SAYS
The Budget and Deficit Under Clinton

• By Brooks Jackson
• Posted on February 3, 2008 | Updated on February 11, 2008

1.3K


Q: During the Clinton administration was the federal budget balanced? Was the federal deficit erased?

A: Yes to both questions, whether you count Social Security or not.


FULL ANSWER

This chart, based on historical figures from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, shows the total deficit or surplus for each fiscal year from 1990 through 2006. Keep in mind that fiscal years begin Oct. 1, so the first year that can be counted as a Clinton year is fiscal 1994. The appropriations bills for fiscal years 1990 through 1993 were signed by Bill Clinton’s predecessor, George H.W. Bush. Fiscal 2002 is the first for which President George W. Bush signed the appropriations bills, and the first to show the effect of his tax cuts.

The Clinton years showed the effects of a large tax increase that Clinton pushed through in his first year, and that Republicans incorrectly claim is the "largest tax increase in history." It fell almost exclusively on upper-income taxpayers. Clinton’s fiscal 1994 budget also contained some spending restraints. An equally if not more powerful influence was the booming economy and huge gains in the stock markets, the so-called dot-com bubble, which brought in hundreds of millions in unanticipated tax revenue from taxes on capital gains and rising salaries.

Clinton’s large budget surpluses also owe much to the Social Security tax on payrolls. Social Security taxes now bring in more than the cost of current benefits, and the "Social Security surplus" makes the total deficit or surplus figures look better than they would if Social Security wasn’t counted. But even if we remove Social Security from the equation, there was a surplus of $1.9 billion in fiscal 1999 and $86.4 billion in fiscal 2000. So any way you count it, the federal budget was balanced and the deficit was erased, if only for a while.

Update, Feb. 11: Some readers wrote to us saying we should have made clear the difference between the federal deficit and the federal debt. A deficit occurs when the government takes in less money than it spends in a given year. The debt is the total amount the government owes at any given time. So the debt goes up in any given year by the amount of the deficit, or it decreases by the amount of any surplus. The debt the government owes to the public decreased for a while under Clinton, but the debt was by no means erased.

Other readers have noted a USA Today story stating that, under an alternative type of accounting, the final four years of the Clinton administration taken together would have shown a deficit. This is based on an annual document called the "Financial Report of the U.S. Government," which reports what the governments books would look like if kept on an accrual basis like those of most corporations, rather than the cash basis that the government has always used. The principal difference is that under accrual accounting the government would book immediately the costs of promises made to pay future benefits to government workers and Social Security and Medicare beneficiaries. But even under accrual accounting, the annual reports showed surpluses of $69.2 billion in fiscal 1998, $76.9 billion in fiscal 1999, and $46 billion for fiscal year 2000. So even if the government had been using that form of accounting the deficit would have been erased for those three years.

– Brooks Jackson

A debt is debt, if there's any red that means fail…