[Phsstpok]

Did BJ actually one thing he accomplished as President?? Did he list anything?? I guess you can give him credit for deporting an orphan to a crazy dictator, but what else??

Well, on MTP he did say he was the first president since LBJ to balance the budget.

Seriously.  He balanced the budget.

Ayep.  That's the ticket.

[bray]

Yeah, he balanced the budget after the congress beat his veto. He then caused the biggest daficit in histoir with his tax increases.

Pray for W and Our Troops

[Bernard]

Interestingly enough, the last time the national debt decreased from one year to another was the year ending December 31, 1960, which was Dwight Eisenhower's last year as President.

Shortly after that, the fiscal year was changed from 12/31 to 9/30, the bookkeeping was changed to allow the federal government to count social security surpluses as general budget surpluses, the media forgot how to add and subtract, and we have been relying on math illiterates in the media to be our watchdogs on government fiscal performance.

If there is a slippery slope to fiscal hell for this country, that is about the time the roller coaster went over the first peak.

That also means that sometime in the near future, as social security outflows exceed receipts, there will be a push to stop counting the SS over/under as part of the general budget. I have no idea how the amoral government beancounters will replace that actual excess, but I am sure they will be able to 3-card monte their way past the media.(Maybe that could be Bill Clinton's last task, to preserve his legacy)