[Alberta's Child]

Clinton did no such thing. He signed every spending bill that crossed his desk. It was the tax reform bill of 1997 that precipitated this brief interlude in massive deficit spending.

The brief period of “no deficit” was the direct result of two things:

1. Lower capital gains tax rates that caused a major boom in the U.S. economy.

2. The flood of new tax revenues generated by conversions from IRAs to the new Roth IRAs that were established under the 1997 tax changes.

[Leaning Right]

Years ago, I had a conversation with a liberal acquaintance about Reagan and the fall of communism in Eastern Europe. My acquaintance gave Reagan no credit at all. Instead he listed a bunch of other reasons why communism collapsed there. He talked as if Reagan was a mere bystander.

I obviously disagreed. For good or for bad, the buck stops at the Oval Office. And that’s why I give credit to Clinton for balancing the budget. As you noted, other factors were involved. But Clinton was at the helm.

You and others here see that differently, and I respect that.