How the deficit performed under Republican and Democratic presidents, from Reagan to Trump

[C_Clayton_Jones]

"Reagan took the deficit from $70 billion to $175 billion. Bush 41 took it to $300 billion. Clinton got it to zero. Bush 43 took it from zero to $1.2 trillion. Obama halved it to $600 billion. Trump’s got it back to a trillion."

How the past five presidents affected the deficit

This article was updated Aug. 2 to include a graph with the annual federal deficit in constant dollars. A viral post por

www.politifact.com

One can play the ‘under’ game and assign blame or credit where applicable – which currently reflects poorly on Republican presidents.

Or one can acknowledge facts and the truth: that presidents have little – if anything – to do with economic conditions during their respective administrations. That economies, good or bad, are often the consequence of global conditions or events beyond control of a given administration – such as responding to a pandemic (Trump) or the Fed fighting inflation with sky-high interest rates (Biden).

 

[excalibur]

"Reagan took the deficit from $70 billion to $175 billion. Bush 41 took it to $300 billion. Clinton got it to zero. Bush 43 took it from zero to $1.2 trillion. Obama halved it to $600 billion. Trump’s got it back to a trillion."

How the past five presidents affected the deficit

This article was updated Aug. 2 to include a graph with the annual federal deficit in constant dollars. A viral post por

www.politifact.com

One can play the ‘under’ game and assign blame or credit where applicable – which currently reflects poorly on Republican presidents.

Or one can acknowledge facts and the truth: that presidents have little – if anything – to do with economic conditions during their respective administrations. That economies, good or bad, are often the consequence of global conditions or events beyond control of a given administration – such as responding to a pandemic (Trump) or the Fed fighting inflation with sky-high interest rates (Biden).

Congress gas the power of the purse, not a President.

 

[pknopp]

Congress gas the power of the purse, not a President.

While the numbers are not correct, none of the money gets spent until the president signs off on it.

This defecting of the blame on presidents really needs to stop.

 

[Harry Dresden]

While the numbers are not correct, none of the money gets spent until the president signs off on it.

This defecting of the blame on presidents really needs to stop.

the one sitting in the big chair takes the heat....comes with the job...

 

[para bellum]

Clinton was not a fiscal conservative. He only signed off on budget reforms after first vetoing it 3 times from a GOP congress. He enjoyed $300Bn+ annual surpluses from the FICA reforms passed under Reagan, and another $100Bn+ annual windfalls from the cap gains of the dotcom boom.

Clinton's "balanced budget" is still a fiction, because the debt was still increasing. The treasury was issuing treasuries to the SS trust funds for the surpluses that were being spent by the Congress.

Bush 43 ran what we would look at today as modest deficits of ~$100-$150Bn, which were declining until the financial collapse of 2008. That caused the $700 Bn TARP bailout and a $400 Bn Omnibus forced by dems in Congress that year. So Bush 43's last year had a $1Tn+ deficit. Bush also ran $100Bn war supplementals for Iraq and Afghanistan that were off-budget but added to the deficits.

Obama came in and passed the $1Tn porkulus, much of which was institutionalized into the budgets of ED and DOE in green energy spending. He passed Obamacare, and FICA went underwater in 2012. Obama institutionalized the $1Tn deficit.

Trump inherited the institutionalized deficits, and ran $1Tn+ deficits until COVID, which exploded the deficit again, and about half the debt that accumulated under Trump was in 2020. Losses of revenues due to the shutdowns and massive COVID spending.

Biden did nothing to try to get a handle on it, these deficits are fully institutionalized and Harris will only make them worse.

 

[Toddsterpatriot]

"Reagan took the deficit from $70 billion to $175 billion. Bush 41 took it to $300 billion. Clinton got it to zero. Bush 43 took it from zero to $1.2 trillion. Obama halved it to $600 billion. Trump’s got it back to a trillion."

How the past five presidents affected the deficit

This article was updated Aug. 2 to include a graph with the annual federal deficit in constant dollars. A viral post por

www.politifact.com

One can play the ‘under’ game and assign blame or credit where applicable – which currently reflects poorly on Republican presidents.

Or one can acknowledge facts and the truth: that presidents have little – if anything – to do with economic conditions during their respective administrations. That economies, good or bad, are often the consequence of global conditions or events beyond control of a given administration – such as responding to a pandemic (Trump) or the Fed fighting inflation with sky-high interest rates (Biden).

Obama and Biden added $18 trillion to the debt.