(November 6, 2015 at 11:42 am)Minimalist Wrote: Presidents can take steps to influence the cycle. Clinton not only balanced the federal budget he left it with a huge surplus. Bush the Shithead came along, gave a big tax cut to his rich-bitch buddies and then started two wars without figuring out how to pay for them. Bye-bye surplus, hello deficits.Historically the Repubs are the primary reason we have a large national debt and deficits. After the Civil War the Dems wanted to pay off the war debt by increasing taxes. The Repubs said screw that because the federal government could borrow money per the Constitution. And since the Repubs were in the majority they borrowed the money and Congress has never been able to pay off the national debt. That's not necessarily a bad thing because the government still gets every penny it wants. Rich people and foreign governments help fund the government by loaning it money. That reduces taxes for the average John & Jane. So the average person ends up with more money in his pocket.
Most presidents do nothing either so positive or negative and are simply borne along by the currents.
It would be a real pain if we went on a plan to pay off the national debt and operate without any borrowing. The deficit is just the difference between the tax revenue and what's needed and it's the amount that's borrowed. As long as the government can borrow money there isn't any problem. The national debt could grow to $900 Trillion without any adverse effects. The interest payment would be huge but as long as things stayed in the current ratio it wouldn't be that big of a deal. And when the crap hits the fan the government can simply say "Too bad, so sad".
