Bush Administration Big Spending Yields Record Deficit for 2009
Budget High Ground Shifts to Democratic Party
- Bush Administration projects record 2009 deficit – Associated Press
- Record deficit of $482 billion projected – New York Times
- Bush Aides Project Record $482 Billion 2009 Deficit – Bloomberg
The stories today about President George W. Bush’s projected $482 billion deficit for next year reminded me of past President Bill Clinton’s answer to critics of his time in office: “What didn’t you like about the Clinton years – the peace or the prosperity?”
What a way to go out, W. What you’ve done – and there’ll be no Karl Rove to pull the wool over history’s eyes – is wreck the Republican Party’s moral authority on fiscal conservatism. Your war, your gimmick of free money tax rebates, and your reverse Robin Hood tax policies have officially left you (and us) a legacy of debt. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.
Clinton came into the White House in 1993 with a federal deficit of around $290 billion. In 1999, his administration was sitting atop a $194 billion budget surplus. According to the economic forecasts of the time, staying on the Clinton economic program would have had the nation’s publicly held debt erased by 2015. Granted, that’s a lot of ifs, but the fact is, under Democratic leadership, our country was on the right track.
The “New Democrats” and Bill Clinton shifted our party in the right direction. Putting people first and responsible spending began shifting the moral high ground on the federal budget to the Democrats. George Bush’s seismic mismanagement has settled this issue.
Well, it is about time that someone starts paying attention to the massive federal debt that has been accumulated by the current fiscal conservatives in the White House. It is amazing how long this can go on and no one pays any attention to the mounting debt. Hopefully, the Sullivan piece, and Larry Hunter will do something to get this out into the mainstream media. It is in serious need of attention.