[Sgt_Schultze]

Why continue to propagate a fantasy?

Revenues from Clinton-era tax rates were actually used to pay down the national debt and produce four successive budget surpluses.

During the impeached former president's administration, the national debt NEVER went down LINK . . .

09/30/2001 5,807,463,412,200.06
09/30/2000 5,674,178,209,886.86
09/30/1999 5,656,270,901,615.43
09/30/1998 5,526,193,008,897.62
09/30/1997 5,413,146,011,397.34
09/30/1996 5,224,810,939,135.73
09/29/1995 4,973,982,900,709.39
09/30/1994 4,692,749,910,013.32
09/30/1993 4,411,488,883,139.38
09/30/1992 4,064,620,655,521.66
09/30/1991 3,665,303,351,697.03
09/28/1990 3,233,313,451,777.25

[raptor22]

[Mitchell]

Does anyone know what the difference is between:

(1) the link you posted, http://www.treasurydirect.gov/govt/reports/pd/histdebt/histdebt_histo4.htm, at the Treasury Department, which shows the national debt as never declining during the Clinton years,

and

(2) the CBO page at http://www.cbo.gov/sites/default/files/cbofiles/ftpdocs/108xx/doc10871/historicaltables.pdf, which shows the national debt as declining and the budget balanced during Clinton's tenure.

Overall, the figures are not at all alike in the two tables, so they must be reporting something different. Does anybody know what the two different statistics are that they're reporting here?

[remember]

Sgt_Schultze wrote:

Why continue to propagate a fantasy? Revenues from Clinton-era tax rates were actually used to pay down the national debt and produce four successive budget surpluses.

During the impeached former president's administration, the national debt NEVER went down LINK . . .

It depends on what you mean by "national debt". As the table at this link shows, the "gross federal debt" never did decline but the "debt held by the public" did decline in 1998, 1999, 2000, and 2001. It can be seen most clearly in the following graph:

The red line is the "gross federal deficit" and never did reach a surplus though it came close in 2000. However, the purple line is the "unified deficit" and it did reach surplus in 1998 through 2001. You can find the actual numbers and sources for the above graph at this link.