Thread: Go Bush Go!
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Unread 22 Mar 2006, 01:04   #41
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Re: Go Bush Go!

Quote:
Originally Posted by dda
If Clinton had a surplus and not a defecit, why did they repeatedly raise the national debt ceiling during his presidency?
The two are not as closely connected as you think.

Generating a budget surplus is pretty simple economics. You set yourself a budget to spend over the course of a fiscal year. Then you spend what you need to on whatever you spend a government budget on.

If you say, had a budget of £1 , and you only spent £0.95p , youve generated a 5% surplus to go into the next fiscal year. Clinton basically managed the countries finances pretty damned well. Yep, he did raise the national debt ceiling , but the reason for that is further down.

Now under Bush, hes being given that £1 to spend. But he wants to cut taxes, and to do that he needs £1.10. And he wants to fund an overseas war, and for that he needs £1.40. This is why he has had to go back to congress a number of times during his presidency to ask for extra funding.

However

The £1 was borrowed in the first place. And sometime in the future, £1.03p has to be repaid. And whilst Mr Clinton did give himself a surplus, he didnt use that surplus to try and repay what was already owed, he just kept it around in case something came up that required the US to dump a ton of cash into a problem. Writing off third world debt was probably right up there at the top of his list, but TBH , who the hell knows what he was going to spend it on. Al probably told him to keep it so Tipper could sponsor softball leagues or something.

Taking a look at most of the western world, Americas problem isnt unique. You can only sustain an economy with huge debt by having strong economic growth, and alas, within the US, most major industries are in the shitter. Dubbya's economic plans are very akin to the boom or bust approach that saw the UK go down the pan in the 80's, theres a plan in there somewhere (an overseas war that sees US companies profit means more taxes and allows, in theory, in the longer term, a more stable economic base from which to work. Alas, thats if its a short war and you stabilise the country. Right now, if he cant get Iraqis to knuckle under, hes absoloutely screwed, but i dont think he cares knowing that his presidency is coming to an end, and it wont be his problem when the country goes tits up) but alas, it just doesnt look good.
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