Originally posted by J Scott:
Originally posted by Karen Parker:
I feel the majority of the problem we see right now is due to policies enacted by the Clinton administration that carried over into the Bush administration who did nothing to curtail it.
The simple fact remains that Clinton implemented "pay as you go," stuck to it, and the national debt declined for the only period in the past 23 years.
The year "pay as you go" was scrapped (2001), the deficit started to rise very, very quickly.
Now, you can use common sense to deduce that it wasn't just a coincidence that the national debt stopped rising over the exact same period (and only during the period) that Clinton was in office, or -- if that's not enough evidence -- you can actually look at the legislation that was passed during that time to make it happen.
By definition, "pay as you go" -- if followed by the administration -- had to keep the national debt from rising.
It's impossible to implement "pay as you go" and have the national debt rise.
It's not rocket science...but unfortunately, Clinton was the only one willing to stand up and say, "Enough is enough."
If you disagree with me, please explain how the national debt could have risen if W would have continued to implement "pay as you go?"
If you agree with the fact that policies implemented by prior administrations impact later ones, how can you be sure that what you are seeing in that chart is not residual from those of the more conservative predecessors?
Clinton is also the one that deregulated all the financial institutions that led to the field day we saw of selling house to people that couldn't afford them bringing us to the here and now. If your synopsis is correct, then all of the problems we see right now are not the result of either Clinton or Bush but are solely the results of policies enacted by BO. And though I feel some are, even I, his worse critic, will not venture to lay it all at his door.
