The "efforts" you speak of were "spending beyond our means for decades".
And, suddenly, the nation has become aware of the problem...
...thanks to the Tea Party.
1. The best aspect of the Clinton administration with a Republican Congress is that it prevented either party from enacting expensive new programs.
a. Of course, there were some positives: capital gains tax cuts, the 1996 welfare reforms ending AFDC entitlement, the 1995 elimination of most farm subsidies (reinstated by BushII)
2. The
two periods of fiscal responsibility in six decades were the Eisenhower and the Clinton administrations, periods during which the presidency and Congress were controlled by different parties. William A. Niskanen, “A Case For Divided Government,”
A Case for Divided Government | William A. Niskanen | Cato Institute: Daily Commentary
3. The worst spending periods were those with one party in charge
a. a.
1967 and 1968, LBJ and the Democrats, spending increased 11.6% a year. Historical Tables | The White House (table 1.1)
4. The largest average
decrease came in 1955 and 1956, with spending decreasing an average 4.2% a year. Eisenhower was President, with Democrats in charge in Congress. Ibid.
5. If you donÂ’t want to see expansion of government, gridlock is good. How does that make the
Progressives, who opposed checks and balances, look?
6. In 1997, the most promising budget reform in American history died aborning! President
Clinton and House Speaker Newt Gingrich secretly created a abipartisan plan to permanently rein in
Social Security and Medicare. It would provide Social Security personal accounts and convert Medicare into a market-based, premium support program. The idea was for Clinton to offer the plan during his Januar 1998 State of the Union address, and Gingrich to endorse it. What happened?
Six days before the Clinton speech the Monica Lewinsky scandal broke. Steve M. Gillon, “The Pact: Bill Clinton, Newt Gingrich, and the Rivalry that Defined a Generation.”
7. There seem to be only two ironclad
rules of government:
Rule no.1: Always try to expand;
Rule no. 2: see Rule no. 1.
Beck, Balfe, “Broke,” p. 115
