Joe Conason: Need to Reduce the National Debt? Just Ask Clinton

[flpoljunkie]

Need To Reduce The National Debt? Just Ask Clinton.

By Joe Conason
February 10, 2011 | 11:38 a.m.

As America approaches the deadline for increasing the statutory national debt--or risking a catastrophic default on our obligations to creditors and citizens--there is no shortage of stupid ideas to restore fiscal order.

But if we honestly wish to bring the federal budget closer to balance, without wrecking vital services or plunging the nation back into recession, why not consult the record of the one president in recent memory who actually achieved that goal? Not Ronald Reagan, the affable wingnut whose tax cuts blew open a huge deficit, but Bill Clinton--who left balanced budgets and a nation on track to paying off the national debt entirely.

How did he do it? Clinton isn't shy about explaining what happened on his watch. The budget deals he made with the Congressional Republicans were significant, but not nearly as significant as the tax increase on the wealthy that he passed, without a single Republican vote, in his first budget in 1993.

Voting to raise taxes on the rich was the crucial step toward fiscal responsibility and a long period of high employment, national prosperity and international prestige. There is no other way to stabilize the budget without inflicting grave damage on our future.

[JaneQPublic]

1. So true: It's Clinton and the Dems who own the balanced-budget issue...

...not the GOPers, who talk a good game but never actually perform when it comes to reducing budget deficit.

Obama really should talk this point up more.

[mikekohr]

19. National Debt Chart Proves Credit Card Republicanism Has EXPLODED the National Debt

National Debt
THE LAST 3 REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTS HAVE ACCOUNTED FOR NEARLY 100% OF OUR INCREASE IN THE NATIONAL DEBT SINCE 1981


Every President, from Truman to Carter, steadily paid down the staggering debt that was run up in our fight against Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan. That pattern came to a screeching halt with Reagan/Bush and Bush. Clinton’s fiscal policy was a brief respite during this orgy of deficit spending.

Clinton balanced 4 budgets, which is 4 times as many balanced budgets as the last 5 Republican presidents combined.


President Obama, like President Clinton, inherited a sea of red ink and a recession from his predecessor. He, like President Clinton, recognizes the importance of getting America back to work and then getting our fiscal house in order.


?


See National Debt Graph @: http://zfacts.com/p/1195.html
See Yearly Deficits: http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/108xx/doc10871/HistoricalTables.pdf


WHY DO REPUBLICAN ECONOMIC PRINCIPLES EXPAND THE NATIONAL DEBT?
-The answer is simple mathematics. Reduced revenue + increased spending ='s increased debt-



? (click to enlarge)
http://cedarcomm.com/~stevelm1/usdebt.htm

The two biggest promises of "Trickle Down Economics" are it's greatest failings. Proponents of "Trickle Down Economics” claim that tax cuts, skewed to the rich, will create jobs and increase tax revenues. The graph above disproves the latter claim. Job creation plummets under "Trickle Down Economics (see http://bureaucountydems.blogspot.com/p/job-growth.html )and nine of the last ten recessions have occurred under Republican leadership (see http://bureaucountydems.blogspot.com/p/history-of-recessions.html ).

Two things are certain to grow when a Republican is in the White House, unemployment and the National Debt.


By contrast, "Bubble Up" economnic priciples practiced by Democratic Administrations put people to work, rev up the economy, and balance the Nation's ledger books. Every time. No exceptions.



There Is Perhaps No Better Source Than The Following Video To Understand How Credit Card Republicanism Has EXPLODED the National Debt. Watch it. Forward it. Spread the word.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1bZ-TiX8rA

[WhiteTara]

2. taxing the rich has now become a dirty phrase on DU

I just rec'd this post and it came up 0 including my +1 vote. Well, I still think that increasing the tax rate on the wealthy is the way to go. Listen up Mr. President, we need to keep the old, infirm and poor warm in the winter, the rich need a hair cut.

[SDuderstadt]

3. Because I accidentally...

unrecced it. Went to rec it and missed.

[WhiteTara]

17. I've done that.

kind of embarrassing. Good of you to acknowledge your unrec. Most people "hit and run"

[SDuderstadt]

18. It's not so much embarrasing as...

the unintended consequence of trying to post using a smartphone and being clumsy.

[WhiteTara]

21. I had to get rid of mine. It kept calling people

for me. Suddenly I would be talking to someone and wouldn't know why except that my phone had called them.

[sasha031]

4. that just happened to me too

who does the unr

[WorseBeforeBetter]

20. Only to a select group of Circle Ds and True Believers.

DU is coming back to life.

[xchrom]

5. Recommend

[AldebTX]

6. K&R

[prairierose]

7. k&r......n/t

[Badfish]

8. Americans can't remember past last week.

Asking them to recall the Clinton administration is an absurd request.

[ProSense]

9. Didn't President Obama already bring in Clinton?

The tax increases passed in 1993 without a single Republican vote because Democrats controlled Congress. It wouldn't have passed in 1995 (the equivalent time frame to now) when Republicans controlled both the Senate and the House.

Still, the debt was $4.4 trillion in 1993. Clinton achieved a $550 billion surplus at the end of his two terms.

The debt is more than $14 trillion now. It would take more than 25 years to eliminate the current debt using the same tactics.

To make a dent, a lot more needs to be done: ending the wars, cutting the defense budget, raising taxes in a much more significant way (reforming the tax code), closing loopholes, etc.

Clinton could help sell those ideas.

[Raster]

13. Numero Uno: End these mindless wars. They benefit no one EXCEPT for the entities financing these..

...wars, and the companies producing the weaponry and infrastructure to enable these wars.

Numero Dos: Cut the defense budget so small that we could drown it--along with Grover Norquist--in a bathtub.

Numero Tres: Revise the tax code to raise taxes on the rich and alleviate taxes - or even eliminate them - on the lower financial classes.

[flpoljunkie]

15. War is expensive. So are tax cuts and non-negotiated prices for Rx drug benefits

Thank you, George W. Bush!

[Raster]

16. Ol' Gee-Dubya's pResidency was the ill-gotten gift that just keeps on giving.

The Lords of Money rode that investment like it was a methed-up pony: hard, fast and put it away stupid. In Dallas.

[LeftyAndProud60]

10. is there innovation like the internet on the horizon? The .com bubble balanced the budget. nt

[Badfish]

11. How did the .com bubble balance the budget ?

[LeftyAndProud60]

12. By providing revenue. NT

[DrToast]

14. Sure, all we need is another tech bubble.

[Honeycombe8]

22. O is proposing to close tax loopholes on the wealthy, and in particular, large corporations.

Closing loopholes is a way of raising taxes.