Deficit Spending and the Pols Who Just Can't Decide

Deficit Spending and the Pols Who Just Can't Decide


Republicans love to hold themselves out to the American voter as the party of fiscal responsibility. Their talking points constantly attack “reckless” Democrats who  live to spend, spend, spend (mostly, they claim, on social programs like Medicare--a huge spending program which Republicans previously opposed but now favor, since their constituencies now support it). 


Ask the man or woman on the street which party has their best financial interests in mind and you will probably always hear that its the Republicans who are the more responsible, more economically responsible party. After all, Republicans are “conservatives” and there's nothing more conservative than being cautious with money.

Unfortunately, history does not bear out that Republicans and Conservatives are fiscally responsible. In fact, over time, the Republicans have shown a penchant for being wildly Unconservative when it comes to public spending. Apparently, nothing makes a politician more liberal with money than having sway over someone else's finances. Especially if there's an R after their name.

Let's get something right on the table. No bias in these pages, no Fake News, or fudged stats. Barack Obama holds the prize (prior to the Trump administration) for being the president who oversaw the biggest budget deficits in U.S. History. 6.69 trillion in deficit spending marked the eight years of the Obama presidency. 

But, wait. Republicans hold second, third and fourth place in the Deficit Spending Hall of Infamy. Second place goes to George W. Bush at 3.29 trillion over two terms, Ronald Reagen at 1.412 trillion, over two terms, and finally, George H.W. Bush at 1.03 trillion in his single term as president. 

Remember, Congress has to vote to approve the budget of the United States and an awful lot of “conservative” Republicans seem to have no problem voting for these budget-busting budgets.

When Democrat, Bill Clinton inherited the giant deficits of his predecessor, George Bush, he quickly turned things around and left office with a budget SURPLUS.

Source: Investopedia, Mary Hall.