[whitedog57]

This economist posted this earlier today, but I just awoke in the failed state of California, three hours behind EST. Great analysis of the Clinton MYTHS!

[DIRTYSECRET]

Simple facts and TRUE. Doesn’t matter. Too complicated for TOO MANY voters.

[Arthurio]

Don’t forget the dotcom bubble.

[Reaganite Republican]

[Luigi Vasellini]

BTTT

[Shethink13]

There are a couple of other issues that contributed to the appearance of a falling deficit during the Clinton years.

One was the fact that during the budget impasse between the Republican Congress and Clinton (1995-96), there was a period of several months where the Federal spending levels were at 80% of the previous years budget while the two sides battled out a budget agreement. Did anyone even notice that we all survived just fine with this huge budget cut?

The other is that Clinton refinanced the debt with short-term, lower interest rate loans, which lowered the interest payments on the debt, thus lowering the deficit. This made him look good and had the added effect of making whoever followed him look bad when the loan term ended and the debt had to be refinanced.