-=> TIM RICHARDSON wrote to DAVE DRUM <=-

 TR> "The budget should be balanced, the treasury should be refilled, public
 TR> debt should be reduced, the arrogance of public officials should be
 TR> tempered and controlled, and the assistance to foreign lands should be
 TR> curtailed...... People must again learn to work, instead of living on
 TR> public assistance."

 DD>Who was the last president to balance the budget??? Wasn't it that well
 DD>known darling of the "left" and notorious philanderer,
William Jefferson
 DD>"Slick Willy" Clinton?

 TR> No....it wasn't.

Yes, it was ...

Q: When was the US federal budget last balanced?

A: In 1998, Bill Clinton presented the first balanced federal budget (with no
annual deficit) since 1969 ... 

http://answers.encyclopedia.com/question/us-federal-budget-last-balanced-206089.html

 DD>Who was the last president actually to apply budgetary surplus to paying
 DD>down the deficit/debt? See above.

 TR> He did no such thing.

Yes, he did.

President Clinton announces another record budget surplus

From CNN White House Correspondent Kelly Wallace

September 27, 2000

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Clinton announced Wednesday that the federal
budget surplus for fiscal year 2000 amounted to at least $230 billion, making
it the largest in U.S. history and topping last year's record surplus of $122.7
billion.

"Eight years ago, our future was at risk," Clinton said Wednesday morning.
"Economic growth was low, unemployment was high, interest rates were high, the
federal debt had quadrupled in the previous 12 years. When Vice President Gore
and I took office, the budget deficit was $290 billion, and it was projected
this year the budget deficit would be $455 billion."

Instead, the president explained, the $5.7 trillion national debt has been
reduced by $360 billion in the last three years -- $223 billion this year
lone.

This represents, Clinton said, "the largest one-year debt reduction in the
history of the United States." 

More here:

http://archives.cnn.com/2000/ALLPOLITICS/stories/09/27/clinton.surplus/

 TR> He started without any deficit, and managed to run the national debt up
 TR> by about $1.4 trillion, and left a deficit of $133.29 billion!

Who provided your figures? The catamites at the Cato Institute? 

 TR> By the way....the money Clinton *claimed* was a `surplus' was borrowed!

Even without the Social Security Trust funds there WAS a surplus.
 
The last balanced budget before Clinton was in 1969, the end of Lyndon
Johnson's administration and the start of Richard M. Nixon's first year in the
White House. Deficits grew dramatically in the 1970s and 1980s, peaking in 1992
at $290 billion - or 4.7 percent of the gross domestic product. (Excluding
Social Security taxes, the amount was actually far higher.) A combination of
increased spending - including social and military programs - and lower tax
rates drove up deficits. Economic factors, including two recessions, also
contributed to the spikes. 

The last Republican president to balance the budget was Dwight D. Eisenhower.
 
ENJOY!!!

From Uncle Dirty Dave's Kitchen
Home of YAHOOOOAHHHH Hot Sauce & Hardin Cider 

 

... I don't think of the past. The only thing that matters is the here and now!
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