Hmmm - actually, http://www.treasurydirect.gov/NP/BPDLogin?application=np shows a slight decrease in debt in the year 2000, but that’s it.
So I’d be willing to concede that there was a surplus in 2000, but none of the other years.
We are discussing apples and oranges. You are discussing the total public debt and I am simply discussing the BUDGET (surplus/deficit). The budget statements are simply the receipts minus the outlays per month for on and off budget expenses. A positive difference is surplus and a negative difference is a defficit.
Here is a monthly budget statement that you can look at: http://www.fms.treas.gov/mts/index.html